The Last Laugh
by JanEyrEvanescence12
Summary: Two years have passed since the events of Arkham Asylum. Now a dark cloud threatens all Batman and Marjorie stand for. They will be tested and tried in many ways during the course of one night. And the stakes for this round couldn't be any higher…sequel to Never Leave Your Partner Behind. Bruce Wayne / Batman x OC...Complete!
1. Prologue: A Pacing Beast

The Last Laugh

My usual disclaimers: all copyrights go to those who rightfully own them.

After the successful intro to Marjorie Wilde in Never Leave Your Partner Behind, I'm going to do a sequel entry into Arkham City. And as I mentioned in the last chapter, this is going to be different. Ra's al Guhl and Talia won't be making an appearance in this one (as I mentioned, I thought Ra's being the mastermind was really cheap and Talia was completely out of character, I mean she lured Joker away when she knew just how dangerous he really was, so why didn't she kill him as soon as she had the cure in her hands?) If you're not comfortable with that idea, then don't say anything or read.

With all that said, enjoy and destroy!

* * *

Prologue: A Pacing Beast

The guard accompanying me pressed the intercom button outside the office door. It buzzed. TYGER Security guards were posted throughout the barren hallway, their hands silently resting near the triggers of their high-powered weapons. Normally, I wouldn't be inside the deep and dark TYGER complex, a foreboding fortress on the edge of the prison called Arkham City. But I was angry. I was _very_ angry. Strange wasn't going to turn me away. I was going to give that creep a piece of my mind….

"Yes?" The creepy foreign accent responded amid the static. "I'm a very busy man so it must be important."

The guard cleared his throat. "Good afternoon, Dr. Strange. Marjorie Wayne is here. I tried to tell her that you were busy, sir, but…"

I snapped, helped in no small part by almost nine months worth of raging hormones. I pushed the guard aside and stood in front of the small speaker. "Strange, I won't be pushed around! You will hear me out and you'll hear me out now! Mark my words; I will break down the door if you don't let me in so I can give you a piece of my mind…!"

"There's no need to threaten violence, Mrs. Wayne." Strange's voice responded, cordial with a frightening edge to it. "Of course I'll see you. Come in."

The door buzzed, a sign it had been unlocked. The guard opened the door and let me inside. The room was small and windowless, lit by a fluorescent bulb. I swallowed my claustrophobia. The office was Spartan in décor. Wooden chairs around a desk, an old computer and sterile steel filing cabinets. Sitting at the computer was an average sized man, balding with a thick black beard. Big black glasses covered his eyes; I wondered how he could see out of them. He was wearing a white lab coat imprinted with the Arkham logo, a pair of black gloves gleamed on his hands. Everything about him reminded me of one of the mad scientists from those old movies.

"It's alright guard, I was expecting her. Leave us." I wasn't too surprised that he knew. Hugo Strange was the Big Brother figure of Arkham City. Nothing escaped his watch. Little wonder he scared the shit out of everyone in the super prison. The guard smartly nodded and closed the door behind him. At once I got nervous but was careful to hide it. I didn't want him to suspect that I felt like a fly caught in a spider's web. "Have a seat." Strange smiled, his big white teeth had a cold edge. "May I get you something to drink?"

"No thanks." I winced as I sat down in one of the wooden chairs. The area between my legs was sore, even though I took care to not show it.

"So, how may I help you?" Strange flexed his fingers, the rubber or leather gloves squeaked.

I cut to the chase. "I understand that you had the supplies to the Medical Facility cut off last week." My voice was edgy but I didn't care. "I want to know why."

"Oh yes, I did forget to warn them about that minor inconvenience."

His nonchalance irked me further. "Minor inconvenience?! You are aware that they're the only thing keeping some sense of humanity in this godforsaken hellhole…?!"

"You are very kindhearted, Mrs. Wayne, but please consider this. Outside this office are over ten thousand lawbreakers and degenerates. Why waste money and resources on such people?"

"You're not paying for it!" I tried to ignore the soreness between my legs. "Aren't you forgetting that my husband, Bruce, is kindly paying for everything at the Medical Facility out of his own pocket?! And he wants answers too!"

"Yes, yes, I'm aware of Mr. Wayne's involvement. But you see, Mrs. Wayne, I didn't want to intrude on his charity anymore. After all, these are criminals, worthless beings who've lost the privilege of being called human…"

To say that I was fed up is the understatement of the year. Standing up, I slammed my fist on the desk. Strange didn't flinch. "Goddamn it Strange! They're running out of food and medical supplies! They might be 'criminals', but they shouldn't fight for survival like starving animals! This will get out and you will be raked over the coals if you don't let in supplies!"

He didn't respond. I could see that this wasn't going anywhere. I stood up and prepared to storm out. As I put my hand on the doorknob, Strange interrupted. "How far along are you? About thirty-eight weeks? Hard to believe though, considering how small you look."

I felt my throat tighten. Strange was really starting to creep me out. "That's none of your goddamn business." I opened the door.

"I'm just saying…the last thing we need here at the prison is news of the future heir of the Wayne family being born prematurely inside the prison walls." I left quickly, not giving him an answer.

* * *

Bruce was waiting for Marjorie outside of Arkham City. Her face was as red as her coat, her long auburn hair flew behind her, exposing the tattoo on her neck. It didn't go well then. She opened the door and got inside before anyone. "Let's go." She said, upset. He drove away, Marjorie slumped against the window, he hand mindlessly resting upon the tiny baby bump. "God, he makes me so mad!" Marjorie groaned.

"What happened?" Bruce asked, driving towards home.

"He still refused to let in supplies. Said that they had given up the right to be human, or along those lines anyway." It hurt Bruce to see Marjorie so upset. She had been through quite a bit since being fired from Arkham. Her being unable to help her fellow comrades in Arkham City had really taken a toll on her. "Bruce, I'm going to be honest, I think this press conference idea has a snowball's chance in hell."

"Maybe, but Strange will definitely be paying attention." Bruce said. They were now out of the city limits. He could just see the rooftops of Wayne Manor in the distance, high above an ocean cliff. "I'm sorry it didn't work out, Marjorie."

"It's ok. Let's look forward to Sammie." Marjorie smiled as the gates leading to Wayne Manor opened. Bruce pulled into the garage "I swear we've got a future Olympic gold medalist on our hands."

"For what? Martial arts like me or running like your brother?" Bruce chuckled as he rested his hand on Marjorie's abdomen. There was a kick. "What was it, he set the fastest record for the state in track when he was just a freshman in high school?"

"And it still hasn't been broken. According to Mom, Sam took one step walking before starting to run." Marjorie laughed. "Maybe his namesake will win medals in both fields. Hopefully the little one has our brains too."

"With us as the parents? Sure as hell better be!" Bruce laughed as he kissed Marjorie. She smelled of her favorite citrus lotion.

* * *

We spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready before heading to the press conference. I finished getting dressed earlier and so waited in the nursery. As we decided to wait until the baby was born before discovering if it was a boy or girl, the nursery was decorated in soft greens and whites.

Tim had gotten some more diapers and the like, a late baby shower gift. "Where do you think this should go?" Tim Drake asked, holding up the box of diapers. "And don't tell me the changing table, because it's packed full of diapers, wipes and other changing things."

"The closet, top shelf, will do." I said from the white rocker, putting the final touches on blanket. Sammie was kicking away inside.

"I swear we've got enough diapers to soak up Niagara Falls." Bruce said, coming into the nursery, adjusting his tie for what must've been the umpteenth time.

"Don't count on it lasting, Master Wayne." Alfred remarked dryly, bringing up my tea. "You went through quite a few diapers in your day. When we could keep you in them when you were a toddler, that is."

I giggled as Bruce turned red. "That's quite the image, baby Bruce running around butt naked. We've got some pictures of that somewhere, don't we, Alfred?" I winked as Tim smirked. "Maybe I get a hold and take them out when I need blackmail material."

"Ok, very funny." Bruce mumbled. "Is that the tenth blanket you've worked on?"

"No it's not! It's the second." I said, folding it up and putting it on top of the dresser.

"Never thought I'd see you turn domestic." Bruce teased.

"It's not for long." I warned, struggling to get up. Even though the baby was smaller than expected, I still had trouble getting up. "After all, Leslie did order bed rest for me until the baby's born. You know me. I've got to keep my hands and mind busy _some_ way or else I'll go insane."

"So that means you can knit a pair of socks faster than I can?" Bruce smiled as he helped me up.

"Until Sammie's born. Then I'll be back to busting your ass on the training mat."

"I'll hold you to that." Bruce winked. "You look great, by the way." I had chosen a long charcoal grey skirt and a loose silk blouse with comfortable black flats. Bruce's wedding present to me, a strand of pearls, rested around my neck. Matching earrings dangled from my ears. As I had grown out my hair, I had French braided it and then wrapped the now very long hair around my head. My memorial tattoo of St. Michael the Archangel showed, but I didn't care. It was my testament to my brother.

"So do you." I said, tying his tie for him. Bruce wrapped his arms around me and I wrapped mine over his shoulders. We stood in this embrace for a few moments. "What are you smiling about?" I asked.

"Nothing…just…how our lives could change so fast."

"I know. Are you nervous about being a dad still?"

"A little bit." I had a little bit of trouble believing him. It was a complete surprise when I got pregnant but we were so focused on Arkham City and the mysterious Hugo Strange that we really didn't have much time to talk about it. Now we were a month away from the due date and it was beginning to sink in.

"Hey, you wanna know what I think?" I said, gently pushing his chin upwards. "If we can handle mutant Joker monsters running lose in Arkham Asylum for one night, we can handle being parents."

"Thanks Marjorie." Bruce kissed me, a faint smile on his face. He rested his hand on my belly. Sammie kicked, getting Bruce to laugh. "Yep, definitely a kick boxer."

* * *

"Ready to go?" Marjorie squeezed Bruce's hand as Alfred dropped them off in front of Arkham City. Outside was like a zoo. Cameras were going off and questions were being fired.

"As ready as I can be." Bruce smiled, adjusting the A pin Marjorie had attached to his lapel. Holding hands, they strolled behind the smartly dressed Vicki Vale as she began her coverage of the press conference.

"This is Vicki Vale, reporting live from Arkham City, the controversial super prison built right here in the heart of Gotham. In a few moments, Bruce Wayne will be live on stage to explain his sudden interest in Gotham politics. The infamous playboy millionaire has never been one to…"

"It's married billionaire, Vicki. Playboy millionaires are so last year." Bruce winked at Vicki as he escorted Marjorie onto the stage. Camera blubs flashed and reporters began shouting out questions. Bruce took his place at the podium, Marjorie by his side as she always had been. She squeezed his hand and smiled at him.

Showtime. Bruce smiled and began the speech he and Marjorie had prepared. "Thank you! Thank you Gotham! Imprisoned behind these walls, gang leaders are fighting a bloody war in the middle of our once great city! Every inmate from Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Prison has been relocated to this facility. How can this be safe for the people of Gotham?"

Marjorie's grip tightened. He could see her dark brown eyes nervously glancing off to the side. A black truck with the striped TYGER logo was moving closer. Instinct, honed by years of working as a vigilante kicked in. Something was wrong. "Starting today, Marjorie and I are starting the campaign to close down Arkham City and make Gotham safe again!"

**BANG!** A flash grenade blew at the foot of the stage. Thick choking smoke began flooding the stage. Reporters ran amuck, screaming. Bruce pulled Marjorie close. Two TYGER guards rushed them, holding up their high-powered weapons. "Hands in the air Wayne!"

They held up their hands. "Hey! Let me go, you bastard!" Marjorie screamed as one of the guards grabbed her from behind.

"Marjorie! Let her go!" Bruce yelled and began trying to pull her back. Before Bruce could get the guard to release her, there was a hard crack on the back of his head.

* * *

"Bruce!" I screamed as he fell to his knees, having been pistol whipped from behind. He didn't get up. No…no…"You're going to pay for this, you S.O.B!" I hollered as the guard dragged me kicking and screaming off the stage and into the van.

Somebody shoved my head down to the floor. I tried to fight back but something stabbed me in the back of the neck. My screams were muffled as something was injected into me. My limbs felt like rubber and I could only watch. "Go! Go! Go! Go!" I heard somebody yell outside and slam his hand on the side. The van lurched and we began driving at a madcap pace. I tried to keep track of where we were going, but we turned so many times that I eventually lost pace.

Slowly, I began feeling myself becoming very sleepy. "The medicine has taken effect. Prepare the hook." Somebody called out. No…not my baby. Finally, I lost consciousness.

The last thing I remembered feeling was Sammie kicking my abdomen.

* * *

An electric shock pulsed through Bruce. It hurt like hell. "Ahh!" He screamed, throwing his head back. A white light blinded him. What was going on…?

"Wake up, Mr. Wayne." He could hear Hugo Strange pacing around him. "We have much to discuss."

"Strange? You won't get away with this!" Bruce growled, trying to get to his feet, but he had been restrained by hand and leg cuffs.

"I already have." Another electric shock. Bruce screamed again. "I assume that you thought you thought yourself untouchable. Well, as you can see, no one is untouchable."

Blurry memories came back to Bruce. He and Marjorie were hosting a press conference outside Arkham City. Marjorie pointing out the van. The smoke. Her screaming and being dragged away. The baby… "Where is Marjorie?!"

"There's no need to fear. Your wife is in good hands…for now…" Another electric shock.

No more… "Shut Arkham City down! It's out of control!"

"Shut it down?" Bruce could just make out Strange's face in the bright light. "By the end of tonight, I will be a hero. Just like you…Batman…" Strange smiled.

* * *

**A/N:** I've been a little disappointed in the lack of reviews I've been getting. So I've decided to change it up. I won't post up the next chapter until I have at least 10 reviews. And they can't be short reviews like "nice" or "update soon." Here's what I'm looking for: one thing that you liked and an opinion for the next chapter or something that needs fixing. Constructive criticism is very much appreciated, please and thank you.

Call me vain, but I don't want to spend all my time writing something that people aren't going to read.


	2. A Welcoming Party

**A/N:** That's much better, I hope I can update fast enough for these reviews! Yep, Marjorie is still the badass she's supposed to be. Come on, would it be any fun to read (and write in my case) if she weren't the same way as she was in _Never Leave Your Partner Behind_? And in the wise words of my grandma…never get into a fight with a pregnant woman; you're bound to lose ;-). And I always wondered what would happen if Marjorie went up against Strange. I just hope that his reaction was believable. And yes, Corey Burton was really creepy as Strange. I was really nervous throughout the game. Again, I think Ra's al Guhl is a cool villain and while I was fine with him making a cameo in the game, I thought him being the real mastermind cheapened it. Oddly, I was fine with Joker dying.

I was worried how you guys would react to them getting married and Marjorie being pregnant, but I'm glad that was accepted. And the whole part where Marjorie teases Bruce about his 'butt naked baby pictures' was inspired by a threat my mom used. If I didn't behave, she'd threaten to take out said compromising baby pictures…fortunately, I took care of them and she probably doesn't remember them :-).

And just some reassurance, just because you don't see your suggestion in this chapter doesn't mean I'm not going to use it. It might come into play in the upcoming chapters.

Here we go…

* * *

A Welcoming Party

The lights dimmed, bringing Bruce much needed relief. Strange leaned over him. "I feel I should thank you. Capturing Bruce Wayne is so much easier than Batman. And now that we have you, Protocol Ten is ready to begin. It will be my legacy, a monument to your failure. And if you try to stop me, I guarantee everyone will know your secret." The lights came on. A spiel came on the television in the room. Bloodstains smeared across the walls. Sinister looking equipment sat on a table. Bruce elected to not think about what they were used for.

Get out of here. Find Marjorie and the baby. Get them to safety. Find out about Protocol Ten. Stop Strange. Bruce rocked the chair back and forth. **CRASH!** The chair tipped over, spilling Bruce to the floor. An alarm went off. "What the hell are you doing?! Did you think we couldn't hear you?!" A TYGER guard rushed the room. Take care of him. Bruce head butted him and knocked him down. The radio clattered by him. Hurry, take care of that. Bruce grabbed the device, took it apart and took the encryption key.

Just as Bruce slipped the key up his coat sleeve, another guard hurried into the room. Grabbing Bruce by the coat collar, the guard shoved him into the screen. Bruce, now stunned, was grabbed and thrown into the processing center. He fell to his knees, grimacing at the pain. "Welcome to Arkham City, Wayne!"

Awaiting inmates began calling out taunts.

"What are you doing here Wayne?"

"Did you kill your butler?"

"You're going to die in here, rich boy!"

"You're going to be my bitch, Wayne!"

"Back on the ground!" A guard yelled, firing into one of the inmates. Screaming in fright, the other inmates cowered. He saw Bruce. "What are you doing Wayne?! Line A! Move!"

Bruce walked calmly to the line. The place looked like a combination of a World War II documentary of Auschwitz and Blackgate Prison. Ignore the taunts, Bruce reminded himself. Look for Marjorie. She's got to be somewhere around here…but the more he looked around, the faster his hopes faded.

"Hey Wayne! I hear Penguin's put a price on your head…I'm cashing you in!"

"You two out of the way! Wayne! Get your ass up here! Now!" A guard waved his rifle at him.

"Bruce Wayne…you're on my list." The inmate in front of Bruce pointed his thumb and index finger at him, pretending to fire it like a gun. "Bang." If it was meant to intimidate him, it didn't work. Bruce kept calm and still as he stepped through the gates and up to the gates.

The guard shoved the butt of his rifle into Bruce's face. He collapsed. "Lower your weapons. Mr. Wayne will not be any trouble. Will you, Mr. Wayne?" Strange sneered at him, silently reminding him of his threat. Bruce wisely said nothing, for once glad Marjorie wasn't present. She would've raised hell. The thought of her giving Strange a piece of her mind gave him enough strength to get up.

She was alive.

She _had_ to be.

"The cuffs can stay on. We don't want to make things _too_ easy, do we? Close the doors." The doors slammed. "Prepare for insertion!" Strange yelled.

The space was filled with reporters from the press conference and a few other poor unfortunate souls who were unlucky to get on Strange and Mayor Sharp's bad sides. "I can't believe I'm going to die here…" one of them said quietly, the fear clear in his eyes.

A man with glasses stepped forward. Jack Ryder… "Bruce Wayne? Great. There I was, reporting on your crummy press conference and now here we _both_ are. I guess that'll teach you to get involved in politics, won't it?" He said bitterly.

Time for a plan, Ryder's fat mouth was going to get himself killed if he kept this up. "Listen to me carefully. When they open the doors, _do not panic_. Stay close to me."

Ryder scoffed. "Do you think I'm taking advice from some guy who's never even been in a fight?"

Oh you have no idea, Ryder. Bruce thought as the gate opened. The raucous shouting began. Inmates began scaling the chain link fence like rats. "Stay calm, they're trying to scare us." Bruce said calmly.

"Sorry man! It's every man for himself!" Ryder and the other prisoners began to run for the gate. Bruce slowly and carefully followed, watching for trouble.

The inmates wasted no time beginning the beat down. Bruce took care of the prisoners before going to assist Ryder. No problem whatsoever fighting with his cuffs. Thank God Marjorie had taught him a few techniques she learned from Precinct 13 and Arkham Asylum. "On your feet, Ryder." Bruce knelt by a trembling and stunned Ryder. "I said…get up!" Bruce pulled Ryder up and supported him to the gate.

"Well…" a familiar Cockney voice called out. "Look who it is!" Penguin…Bruce and Ryder were knocked down by an inmate who snuck up behind him with a lead pipe. "Welcome to Hell, Brucey-boy!" Stunned, Bruce tried to stand up. Marjorie and the baby. They needed him now. The pipe slammed into the back of his neck.

The stout and fat Cobblepot strolled up to him, throwing his cigar stub in his face. The end of a glass bottle shone against his eye. "Lights out, rich boy!" His foot crashed into Bruce's face, sending him into darkness.

* * *

I came to as somebody tossed me out. It was cold out and the cobblestone path beneath my back was icy. "Come and get it boys…fresh meat!" What? I staggered to my feet. Sammie kicked me, the baby was ok. I heard a van drive away behind me, the exhaust made me cough.

Ugh…my stomach hurt like I had eaten a whole platter of shrimp dredged in lemon juice…and my legs were wet. Did I piss myself when they knocked me out…?

"Well, well, well! Look who it is!" A man hooted. Blurry figures began walking towards me, smiling. They were dressed in orange jumpsuits. The backs were spray-painted white with a black outline of a bird's head. Penguin's men…I was deep inside Arkham City then.

Ask for trouble and it will come, brace yourself, Marjorie. I took a deep breath and tried to focus. But whatever they had injected into me was still making me feel woozy.

"If it ain't the rich bitch!" Another wolf-whistled. "What's the matter? Officers at Arkham and Precinct 13 not good enough for you?! Too bad for you, they and your husband ain't here to save you now!"

"Yo Margie! The coat too thin? I'll gladly keep you warm!" Another leered, his hand on the zipper of his jumpsuit. "Come jump into bed with me!"

"Hell, we won't even do it in a bed! I prefer my girls up against the wall or down on the ground!"

"Stop it now, you lugs!" Their leader took the lead I recognized him as Jim Corrigan, a former officer from Precinct 13 who Sam and I got busted for corruption. A scar gleamed across his milky white right eye. He smirked at me, my knees knocked. "Boss claimed first dibs. If we do our job, he promised us any leftovers…"

Ok, time to fight back. "Oh yeah? Well, give this to Penguin to choke down!" I yelled, delivering a roundhouse kick to Corrigan's face. He stumbled down.

"Why you little…!" Another inmate rushed me. I took him down with a kick to the groin. Stay calm. Fight back. Take note of your surroundings. Bruce's advice rang through my ears as I began kicking and punching my way through. It was a little tough going at first, on account of Sammie and months worth of staying off the exercise mat. But adrenaline and skills kicked in.

Within minutes, it was all over. All the thugs lay around me, out cold. I felt myself shake and shiver, out of cold, adrenaline and excitement. I can't believe it…I did it. I took them down all by myself! Wait until Batman saw this!

But an odd feeling came over me. It felt like I was being watched. What was going on? Was it more thugs? I turned around and saw a shadow in the alleyway across the street. A tall shadow wearing a fedora and long cloak. "You!" I ran after it. The shadow disappeared deeper into the alley. Stupidly, I followed.

But it was gone. There wasn't a ladder anywhere so how did it get away? What the…? I looked around. "Take this." A familiar male voice called out from up above throwing something to me. "Wouldn't do you any good to be out here unarmed by yourself."

Who was it…why was that voice sounded so familiar…? It sounded just like…but that's impossible! He's been dead for years!

Never mind. I thought as I examined what he tossed at me. It was my bag…inside was the collection of items I needed in case I had to fight. I had forgotten that I had stored it at the Medical Center at the old Saint Michael the Archangel's Cathedral…before I had been ordered on bed rest.

"How'd you find…?" I called out, looking up. But he was gone. A new feeling settled over me, one of security. It was like somebody protective was watching over me…not now. I thought as I took out my jumpsuit and stripped off my wet clothes. It should still fit…I hadn't gotten much bigger since I had been last measured…

For once I was glad Sammie was smaller than a normal baby should've been.

* * *

Bruce felt himself being dragged somewhere. What was going on? He thought as he groggily came to. Somebody dropped him, he groaned as he looked up.

"Wakey, wakey Wayne!" Penguin leered. The obese crime boss stood before him. "Aw, what's up? You need me to call your butler?'

"Cobblepot…" Bruce spat, remembering being smacked over the head to kingdom come.

"Aw, you remember me! I'm touched!" Penguin smiled, his yellowed teeth shone in the dim light. He slipped a brass knuckle over his hand. "This…well, let's just call this good old fashioned revenge!" Penguin slammed the brass knuckle into a still dizzy Bruce's head. Stars reeled before Bruce's eyes and he cried out. "You ain't putting up a fight, Wayne! What the hell does your bitch see in you?! Don't worry about her and your brat to be, Wayne. I sent some of my boys to get her. When they bring her here, I'm sure as hell going to show her a good time, the only way a real man knows how! And because I'm feeling mighty generous tonight…you've got a front row seat!"

No…Bruce recovered enough of his senses and grabbed Penguin's hand as he lunged out again. Twisting it, he threw Penguin down. "Hurt him! I think he's broken my bloody hand!" The midget crime lord squealed.

The guards began attacking Bruce. No problem, he thought as he took them down. He jumped up and delivered a kick, the force of which shattered the cuffs loose. "How the hell did he do that?!" An inmate screamed as Bruce took him out. Soon, only Cobblepot was left, hovering in the corner and whimpering. He had to take him down and contact Alfred. Bruce punched him down.

He had to get to higher ground and contact Alfred…finding a ladder, Bruce climbed up it to the roofs. He was near the Ace Chemical plant. "Alfred? Did you get my signal?" Bruce tapped his watch where the two way transmitter was located.

"Just barely sir. There's been more interference than usual." Alfred remarked.

"I need a drop at the roof of the Ace Chemical plant. I'm headed over there now." Bruce jumped a gap and began shimmying along the sides.

"I saw the evening news. Was getting yourself and Ms. Marjorie arrested part of your plan all along?"

"Not exactly…" Marjorie…where was she? "Alfred, do you have a location on Marjorie?"

"The baby and I are ok." Marjorie's voice came over the watch. She was ok. Thank God, Bruce breathed a sigh of relief. What happened after we got arrested?"

"I got some one on one time with Hugo Strange." Bruce remarked as he climbed the ladder.

"And how did that go?" Alfred asked.

"Not good. He knows Bruce Wayne is Batman. He also claims something called Protocol Ten is going to make him famous. I can't leave Arkham City until I find out what it is."

"And I'm going to help you. After all, never leave your partner behind, right?" Marjorie said, he could just imagine her smiling.

"That's right." Bruce chuckled as he reached the roof of the Ace Chemical building.

"Did it arrive, sir?" Alfred asked. There was a loud roar as the Batplane soared close and something jettisoned off of it. The capsule crashed to the rooftop.

"Right on time." Bruce said as he activated the screening device. It beeped as his hand was scanned. The doors opened, revealing the Batman costume.

* * *

**A/N:** Ok…you know the drill, 10 more reviews (what you liked and any suggestions for fixing or future chapters) so that makes at least 20 reviews before the next chapter is posted…


	3. Calendars and Coins

**A/N:** Wow…hope I can update fast enough! Thankfully, since I finally got a brand new computer, updating should be much easier…*does happy new computer dance*

Ok, Shadow Knight1121, you do have a valid argument in the last chapter about Marjorie being able to fight back against all the goons in her condition. But here was my reasoning (hope it makes sense) 1) Marjorie is a seasoned former member of Precinct 13 and Arkham Asylum with experience in hand to hand combat. 2) She's married to Batman for some time and has presumably taken some lessons from him before she got pregnant. And 3) adrenaline was running high and her mothering instinct has kicked in (remember the old saying 'never get between a mother animal and her young' exists for a reason).

* * *

Calendars and Coins

Now that I had changed clothes, I took note of my surroundings. I saw I was in an alleyway next to the Solomon Wayne courthouse, deep in Two-Face's territory. Why in the world did they drop me off here? Everyone knew that Penguin and Two-Face had been fighting a bloody turf war. Was Strange trying to escalate things further?

Voices were approaching. I had to get inside. Fast. I found a neglected looking door by me. It looked like it hadn't been opened in a long time. Perfect. Using a tube of corrosive acid from my utility belt, I melted the deadbolt and carefully pushed the door open.

There was a set of stairs going down. I followed them. A familiar voice began to mumble. "Thirty days hath September, April, June and November. February has twenty eight alone. All the rest have thirty-one. Excepting leap year, that's the time when February's days are twenty-nine."

Great…Calendar Man…Hannibal Lector wannabe. I saw the short fat man sitting in a cell, looking at a calendar on the wall opposite. The scarred tattoos on his head reflected different months of the year. He looked up when I came in. "Good evening, Marjorie Grace." He smiled at me. I hid a shiver.

"Hello Julian. Fancy meeting you here." I said.

"It's good to see you in a better mood. Last time I saw you was on September 29th, the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. That holiday doesn't have many pleasant connotations for you, does it? Because that was also the day your twin brother died at Scarecrow's hands. That's why you have that tattoo on your neck. Appropriate too, considering he's the patron saint of police officers."

My stomach lurched. Why did he have to bring up Sam? "I'm not here to talk about the past, Julian."

"Too bad…because you remind me of a young woman. Just like you, she was a mother to be, just weeks away from holding her baby in her arms. Until Valentine's Day, that is, when I shot her in the heart with Cupid's bow and arrow. The little boy was born by C-section and is now in a relative's home somewhere. I'm told he is blissfully unaware of his birth mother's fate."

He's sick…I fought the urge to throw up. Fortunately, I got a call in on my earpiece. It was Batman. "Marjorie, I've hacked into TYGER communications, I'm adding a link to your earpiece now."

The link kicked in. "All units, this is Air TYGER 4. We have confirmation that Prisoner 4011 is in the courthouse. I repeat Catwoman is in the courthouse."

"Is she in danger?" Strange's voice joined in, making me shudder.

"Affirmative. Target is being held by Dent. We believe he intends to kill her. How should we proceed?"

Strange laughed. "Stand down. Let Two-Face have his fun."

"Understood."

"That doesn't sound good." Batman said.

"No, it does not. Mr. Dent's predilection on all things binary may not bode well for Miss Kyle." Alfred said.

"If there's one person in Arkham City who knows what's really going on, it's her."

"On my way." I said, disconnecting my earpiece. "Rot in hell, you bastard." I ran out of the room before the Calendar Man could say more.

"Please come back and visit me sometime, Marjorie Grace. It gets very lonely down here." Calendar Man's voice echoed in my head as I escaped back into the alley.

I'd much rather take on thugs than Julian Gregory Day.

* * *

Batman watched the scene from the viewer's balcony on the top floor of the now dilapidated courthouse. Thugs dressed in black and white painted jumpsuits surrounded the heavily armored judge's bench. A vat of green acid bubbled in the old jury box, a red curtain dangled high above it. "Bring out the defendant!" Two-Face yelled as he drew the curtain. It fell down, revealing and bound Catwoman dangling by her feet over the acid.

"You certainly know how to leave a girl hanging Harv. Hey…have you had some work done?" Catwoman teased. Two-Face slapped her and made a comment about her stealing from him. "I'm sorry. I've been a bad kitty. Untie me and I'll make it up to you." Catwoman asked in a seductive voice.

"Let's see if the coin thinks you're telling the truth." Two-Face sneered as he flipped the coin. Batman held his breath as he looked at the coin. It was good side up. "This court is now in session." He yelled to jeering thugs.

Time to get to work. Batman left the gallery and went into the courtroom. Dent, ever the orator, began speaking about the benefits of joining his gang. Perfect distraction. He climbed to the top and surveyed the scene using detective vision.

A lone gunman stood guard over the room. He and Dent were the only armed people in the room. Everyone else was unarmed. By the judge's quarters, Batman saw Marjorie slink in. she looked up and nodded at him, taking out her Beretta handgun.

Here we go. Batman took out the lone gunman first. A lone rope dangled across the room, he decided to use it as a makeshift tightrope. Take out Two-Face first. Everyone else should be a cakewalk.

Now! Batman dropped right on Dent, punching him. "It's him!" Somebody yelled. Marjorie jumped in, beginning to take down thugs with both her fists and firing her trusty Beretta. It took a bit of hard work but they were soon down.

"Objection!" Dent shouted, flipping his coin. "You live, Marjorie…" he spun his coin again. "You die, Batman…"

"Batman! Look out!" Marjorie yelled. **BANG!** Batman felt something hit him in the side.

"Overruled…"

* * *

I know I should've gone and held Catwoman get free. But I saw her picking her bonds loose from behind during the fight, so I knew she would be ok now that everyone was down. My husband on the other hand…"Batman…" I ran over to him, he was down. Turning on my glasses, I examined him. The bullet had pierced his armor and thankfully had just grazed his side. "Hang on." I took a bandage out of my belt. "It's ok." I murmured, wrapping him up.

"Heads or tails, kitty cat?" Dent held the handgun up to Catwoman's head.

"Which one gets me out of here alive?" Catwoman innocently asked.

As usual, Two-Face tossed his lucky coin. "Not this one." Dent held up the coin he had flipped, bad side up.

"Save Kyle." Batman hissed at me, slowly coming to.

"She can handle herself just fine." I mumbled.

"I vote for a stay of execution!"

We heard Dent scream as Catwoman jumped loose and clawed him. Dent tumbled to the floor. "Told you." I felt myself gloating.

"No gun, Harv? Shame…" Catwoman cooed before flexing her claws. "This is going to hurt!"

"Two guns, bitch!" Dent yanked out a spare revolver. I fired my Beretta in Two-Face's direction. It hit the gun and it went out of his hand. "What the hell?!" That distracted him long enough for Batman to fire his grapple gun at him. "Put me down!" Dent screamed as Batman hoisted him over the vat of acid. I tied Dent's wrists together and made sure he couldn't escape.

"How's it hanging, Harv?" Catwoman teased before getting something from Two-Face's pocket. "Come to kitty. About time you two showed up." Catwoman smiled at us.

"You're welcome." I mumbled. "Maybe next time we'll just let Dent use you for target practice."

"We thought you could use our help, Selena." Batman said, shooting me an annoyed look.

"Of course, I did. I think I chipped a nail back there. But a kitty is grateful to the people who get her out of a tree." Catwoman cooed as she jumped down. "So how may I repay my favorite rescuers?"

"Protocol Ten. What do you know about it?" Batman cut to the chase.

"Never heard of it."

"That's not what we wanted to hear. What about Strange?" I barked, annoyed.

"I don't trust him. Man's been missing for years and suddenly he's put in charge of running Arkham City? Rumor has it he's working with the Joker, getting something wonderful planned just for you two. Maybe that's Protocol Ten?"

A strange buzzing noise came over my ear. I adjusted the tuner of my earpiece. A sickeningly familiar voice sang into my ear. "Twinkle, twinkle little bat…watch me kill your favorite cat!" What the…?!

I noticed a light dance across Catwoman's face. "The ex-district attorney back there had something that…" I connected the two.

"Selena! Look out!" I yelled. Batman apparently noticed the light too and pulled Catwoman out of the way.

"What the hell?!" Glass shattered and something struck the floor.

"See you soon, Bats and Margie…" the voice teased and hacked.

"This place is getting dangerous…I like it! You expecting a kiss?" Catwoman winked at Batman.

I rolled my eyes, she was really getting on my nerves. "It was Joker." I turned to Batman. "I heard him taunting over my earpiece just now."

The Dark Knight nodded at me, he had heard it too. "You're not safe here, Catwoman." Batman mused. "Nobody is."

* * *

"Let's find out where that bullet came from so we can find out what Joker's up to." Marjorie groaned as Catwoman left the courtroom.

Something was wrong. Batman could see it in her distracted face. "Marjorie, what happened?" He stopped her. She looked at him.

"I ran into Calendar Man in the basement." She sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "He brought up Sam."

Sam…while she had long forgiven herself for what had happened, Batman knew she still missed her twin brother. "Maybe you should leave Arkham City."

"No, I'm fine." She argued back, touching his shoulder. "I just got unnerved, that's all."

"Protocol Ten will commence in ten hours…" Strange's voice came over the many speakers in the city.

"We need to stop him now. And we're going to do it together." Marjorie looked at Bruce.

The discussion was over. Batman nodded his consent. Turning on detective vision, he found the bullet in the middle of the floor. Tracing the line backwards, he found the entry point in the window. The computer automatically traced the line to the Medical Center. This wasn't good…

"It came from the Medical Center." Batman told Marjorie. "You head over there and find out what's going on."

"Where are you off to?" Marjorie asked as he was leaving.

"To the Sionis Steel Mill. Time I paid Joker a little visit."

* * *

**A/N:** Ok folks, you know the drill. 10 more reviews, so that means at least 30 before the next chapter… At least one thing you liked and at least one suggestion for upcoming chapters or things that need fixing.


	4. Hey Diddle, Diddle

**A/N:** I'm glad everyone liked the confrontation between Calendar Man and Marjorie. It was hard to write (because Calendar Man creeped me out during the game so I never really dealt with him). Catwoman and Marjorie's interactions were fun to write (and they might have a few more interactions before the night's through). Oh and Shadow Knight, one more thing…you're right, Batman doesn't like the idea about his pregnant wife fighting alongside him in Arkham City. However, he knows full well that it's useless to argue with her, remember what I said about not getting into a fight with a pregnant woman?

Here we go, the big confrontation between Riddler and Marjorie. A little word of warning, I did have to tweak the challenges a bit (come on, let's be fair here, Marjorie isn't only pregnant but she hasn't had the same physical conditioning as Batman) but I tried to give them as much as a Jigsaw feel as I could.

* * *

Hey Diddle, Diddle

I flew towards the Medical Center. Something was wrong. The red banners that hung from the bell tower had been cut down. In their place were black banners spray-painted with green question marks. Oh no…this was bad. This was _very_ bad.

Fortunately, it looked like nobody was in front of the church. But he's probably got something planned for Batman inside.

I got there and opened the doors, heading inside. As I expected, it was empty. A screen hung from the ceiling. The Riddler's smug and gloating face appeared.

"Oh my…where have they gone?! Could it be that while you were out doing what you were doing I, the Riddler, snuck in and took all those poor stupid fools…? Oh, wait a minute, you're not Batman." Riddler frowned at me.

God…I _hate_ the Riddler…"Sorry to disappoint. Where have you taken them, Nygma?!" I growled.

"Questions, questions, my darling Margie. It's not _you_ who needs answers here, it's _me_. You answer my riddles and I'll tell you where they are. You answer my riddles and they don't die. So, shall we begin? I am an instrument whose music always comes from the heart…what am I?"

"That's the oldest one in the book, organ." I was getting impatient.

The Riddler clapped childishly. "Very good! You're not as stupid as you look! Of course, you're not as smart as me…nobody is. Solve enough of my carefully constructed conundrums and I'll tell you where the rest of my hostages are…the first is in the courtroom. I suggest you hurry. He may have been sentenced already."

Cash. North. Green. Burlow. Josephs…my pals from Arkham and the doctors…he's got them.

Well; Riddler's picked the _wrong_ girl to mess with. I vowed as I left the church and hurried back to the courthouse. And when I got ahold of him, I was going to kick his ass so hard he wouldn't be able to sit down for a month.

* * *

Getting back to the courthouse wasn't too hard. It wasn't as heavily guarded as I had feared. "What'd this chump do?" A guard asked. I crouched down and crept past the judge's chair.

"I don't know. All I know is that Two-Face wants us to guard him." The guards were talking. I looked up, Two-Face was gone. Somebody must've cut him down. Four punks stood in front of Burlow, none of them armed. Good. This was going to be easy. Time for a distraction. I took out a smoke pellet and threw it at them. It exploded, sending smoke everywhere. "What the hell…?!"

"It's Batman!" Another yelled as I jumped into the smoke.

"Sorry to disappoint you, boys!" I began punching and kicking. This was getting easier and easier…

"Oh shit, it's Marjorie Wilde!" Still another called out as the smoke cleared.

"Ding! Ding! Ding! You guessed right! You deserve a prize…!" I shoved my fist into his face, knocking him out. They didn't take too long to knock down. "Are you ok?" I asked Burlow as I cut him loose.

"I didn't want to do it, but he made me. He had Josephs. He stuck a knife in his leg. It's all my fault but he was going to kill Josephs." Burlow said as I helped him stand up.

"Eddie, don't blame yourself, ok?" I touched his shoulders in an attempt to reassure him. "He was going to get to you guys one way or another. Now tell me what happened."

"Riddler said he'd kill everyone in the church if I didn't get them out. He said they'd all die if I didn't do exactly as he said. He kept blaming Batman. I was so scared. He also told me to tell Batman something. It's just a bunch of numbers. 2-7-5, 3-2-5, I don't know what they mean."

It clicked automatically. "I think they're radio frequencies." I took out my portable radio and began tuning it to the frequency.

I was rewarded with Riddler's smug voice. "At last! I suppose I should fulfill my side of the arrangement. A riddle for an idiot. Can you solve it? Riddle me this; 'If you know me, you'll want to share me. But if you share me, I'll be gone.' What am I? Don't worry if you can't solve it, Margie. I know you're not _that_ intelligent."

"When I get my hands on him…" I mumbled as it put the radio away.

"Did you find out what they mean?" Burlow asked, picking up something from the ground.

"Yeah, it's just one of his sick and twisted games. What's that?"

"He also told me to give Batman this." He passed it to me. It looked like a puzzle box. "It's just a box, I don't know what it does though."

"I think I do. Head back to the church. You'll be safer there." I opened the box, finding the gears marked with words…I remember these…Sam and I used to play with these all the time when we were kids. The memory made me smile…but hurry, solve the next riddle…

If you know me, you'll want to share me…if you share me, I'll be gone…I made all the different word combinations I could with the parts of words available…secret…that's the answer. I clicked the two gears together.

He came into my earpiece. How the hell did he do it? "Well done, Margie, you did it! Like a child learning to walk for the first time, I feel I should reward this small miracle and give you the location of the poor, soon to be dead guard who is desperately crying out for help… by means of a new riddle. What do Sylvester the color and Tweetie the bird have in common with the next hostage? I'll give you a hint, it's in Arkham City."

Man…time for a headache. I moaned, rubbing my head. I needed help on this one, I thought as I snuck out of the courthouse. "Oracle, you there?"

"Loud and clear, what's up?"

"Riddler's taken my friends from the church. He's placed hostages throughout all of Arkham City. He'll kill them if I don't solve his riddles."

"And let me guess, you need help." Oracle remarked dryly.

"Please…?" I chuckled.

"Ok, lay it on me."

"'What do Sylvester the color and Tweetie the bird have in common with the next hostage? I'll give you a hint, it's in Arkham City.' Word for word."

"Sylvester and Tweetie? I haven't seen that cartoon in years, entertaining as it is."

It suddenly clicked. "Oracle, you're a genius!"

"Did I miss something?"

"Think about it, Sylvester the cat has black fur, hence the color. Tweetie is a canary, a kind of bird. Put the two together and you've got…"

"…the old Black Canary Club!" I could just hear Oracle smiling.

"Exactly…"

* * *

I landed not too far from the old Black Canary Club. The entrance had been bricked up, a green question mark spray painted on the bricks. There you go. I thought as I spray painted some explosive gel on the bricks and detonated them. The bricks blew in, revealing a door.

It was unlocked. I stepped inside and saw another room. "So you've decided to finally show up, didn't you?" A holographic projection of Riddler glowed against the door.

"Let them go, Riddler. They're innocent." I said.

"Don't be stupid, Margie! Think about it, they wouldn't find themselves in the predicament they're currently in if they tried to think just a few steps ahead, now wouldn't they? Now, if you can solve these four equally challenging rooms, you'll save them. If you fail, they'll die and we'll see if society crumbles at their passing."

"You're insane." I clenched my fists.

"No. That would imply that I have a mental illness or delusion. Of which I have neither." Riddler gloated. Could've fooled me, I rolled my eyes. "Oh! And did I mention that I can see you, Margie, and am looking forward to watching you fail?" Riddler smiled at me before the image turned off. Time to get to work.

I opened the door. Josephs, his leg wrapped in blood-stained bandages, dangled from a huge knot above an electrified pool of water. "Hey Marjorie! Get me out of here!"

"Hang on, I'm coming!" I took out my grapple gun.

"Uh, uh, uh, uh, Margie!" Riddler mockingly called out. "No cheating on this one! You have to untie the knot without touching it…in sixty seconds! And afterward, you have to rescue the poor chump…without letting him fall into the electrocuted water. I suggest you hurry, the clock's ticking…"

Ok…what do I do here? I knew that knot would be impossible to untie in sixty seconds…I'd have to cut it…I took out a Batarang and my grapple gun. As the clock raced down, I shot the grapple line up at an angle and kept my hand on the release button so I wouldn't be jerked upwards until I was ready. Now! I let the button go and threw the Batarang at the rope.

"What are you doing?!" Josephs screamed as the Batarang sliced through the rope. The knot began to unravel. He began to fall but I caught him just in time.

"What?! How'd you do it?!" Nygma growled. "You cheated! You cheated!"

"No I didn't." I panted as I pressed the unwind button on the grapple gun and let it take Josephs and me down slowly. "You said untie the knot without touching it, in sixty seconds and keeping my pal here from falling into the pool. All of which I did."

"Touché, Margie." Riddler mused. "But this room was one of the easy ones…" There was the sound of another door unlocking. A bright green question mark glowed on a door on the wall opposite.

"Thank you." Josephs panted. "How did you do it?"

"Simple, I thought outside the box. Are you hurt bad?"

"It hurts like hell, but I'll live." Josephs groaned as he stood up.

A sharp pain seized me. "Oh!" I cried out, doubling over. God…

"You ok?"

"Yeah." I swallowed back the pain and straightened myself out. "Just a cramp. That's all it was." But I had trouble believing it. It was coming from my navel. Was it possible I was in…no! No! It couldn't be! I was still a month away!

Josephs looked at me, dubiously, but wisely said nothing more about it. "Then let's go."

* * *

"Marjorie! Get me out of here!" North cried out as Josephs and I entered the next room. He was strapped to a gurney beneath a curtain. Two more flanked him.

"It's the E-Nygma show! Can you guess which one he's hiding in?" Riddler bragged as the curtains fell over and they were swapped around. I knew he'd cheat, so I turned on detective vision to see where he was. Sure enough, he was on the far left. "So which one will it be?" I pointed to the one at the very left. "Well, are you right?" The curtain raised, revealing North. "What?! You must've cheated!" Nygma growled. "How'd you do it?!" I ignored Riddler as I unhooked North/

"You ok?" Josephs asked as we helped North stand up.

"Yeah…or rather, I will be when I kick his butt black and blue." North groaned.

"Take a number and get in line." I said, grimacing through another wave of pain. The next door unlocked. "Come on, we've got more people to save."

* * *

Riddler had Green tied up in the third room. This time, he was hooked to a box with labeled with three question marks. "Help me!"

"Hold on, Louie, Marjorie will get you out!" Josephs cried.

"Riddle me this, Marjorie." Riddler said, the hologram shining on the wall. "What does this box have with electricity? Why my next challenge of course! You have to correctly guess which one of my three buttons isn't rigged. Otherwise, Green here will have his brains fried out like fish and chips…so shall we begin? One chance, Marjorie. Even I wouldn't be able to solve this one…"

Easy. Turn on Detective vision…I saw the wires. All of them were rigged. No matter what I did, Green would get electrocuted…unless… I took out a Batarang and threw it at the wires connecting the box to Green. They sizzled and snapped as the Batarang cut through them.

"What?! That's not fair! That's so not fair!" Riddler whined.

"Not as unfair as rigging the damn thing!" I cut Green loose. "You ok?'

"Will be as soon as I stop shaking…oh boy!" Green shivered as he stood up.

"Well you won't be able to solve this one, Margie!" Riddler gloated as the last door unlocked. "You've reached the end of the road…or is it? The final room has everyone else…but you'll get yourself and everyone killed…of that I've made sure."

* * *

We opened the last door, revealing an observation window overlooking the final room. Cameras hung over the wall, looking down at us. The last room looked like something out of an obstacle course. The others were walking alongside a track. Helmets attached with explosives sat on their heads.

Riddler's face appeared on the explosive ladled door. "Ok, this is the final puzzle, which I _know_ you won't be able to solve. You have to get to me and stop me without causing me to press this remote detonator, set off the explosives I've set on the door or stopping any of the poor pathetic fools walking the floor. Otherwise, their primitive DNA will go spraying all over the walls and killing you and your merry band."

Frustrated, I threw a Batarang at the cameras. "Oh how now's that going to work?" Riddler's smug voice taunted me. "You can't solve it Margie! Do me a favor…curl up and die!"

"You'll get him Marjorie!" I heard Cash yelling. Atta boy, Cash. I smiled, turning on Detective vision. I could see where Riddler was holed up on the other side of the room. Let's see… I looked up and saw a vent…perfect!

"Green, North, can you two please give me a boost?" I asked, taking out my corrosive acid.

"You're sneaking up behind him?" North asked as he cupped his hands and stood under the vent.

"That's the plan." I said, stepping into his and Green's hands. I carefully poured the acid on the bolts. "Thanks guys."

"Good luck." Josephs called out as I crawled in and began working my way through, keeping my eye on Detective vision as I made my way to Nygma's hideout. Yes! I made it! I came upon a vent overlooking his command center. His back was to me as he overlooked the many monitors in the room.

"That's right, worms! Just keep walking! You do remember how to walk, don't you?"

"Just wait until Marjorie gets her hands on you, Nygma!" Cash hollered. It distracted Nygma long enough for me to get the corrosive acid on the bolts.

"Oh come now, Mr. Cash. You know as well as I do that Mrs. Wayne cannot possibly figure a way out of this mess. Why else would she marry a stupid pinhead like Bruce Wayne?"

The acid ate the steel away enough that I was able to wedge it loose. Ok, now carefully jump down…on top of him…

I went flying and landed right ontop of him. "What the…?!" Riddler yelled. I punched him out cold before he could react.

"Final score: Marjorie one. Riddler, zero." I groaned. It was over.

* * *

Thank God to Leslie for insisting on bed rest for me, I thought as I strapped the readjusted helmet to Riddler's head. Otherwise, I never would've read up on all those manuals Batman complied about disarming explosives to keep myself from going insane from sheer boredom. Not only was I able to free everyone else, but I decided to have a little fun…

"This can't be happening!" Riddler growled. "You'll pay for this Margie! I know you won't kill me!"

"That's true." I looked Cash and the others over. They were sitting down, rubbing their legs in pain. We had hooked Riddler up to his own obstacle course. "But you can't say the same about the others, now can you?"

"Get your ass moving Riddler!" Cash ordered.

"You can't tell _me_ what to do!" Riddler baulked.

"Do I need to press the button?" Cash smiled innocently, holding up the now useless detonator.

I giggled, clapping my hands. "Press the button! Press the button! Press the button!"

"I'll get you Margie if it's the last thing I do!" We watched Riddler walk off, cursing and muttering under his breath.

"You sure this thing won't work?" Cash asked.

Of course I wasn't going to be _that_ mean…take that back, maybe I was going to be _worse_… "It's about as harmful as a sleeping lamb. But there's no point in letting him know that, is there?" I whispered. Just then, I felt another pain…sharper this time… "Oh!" I doubled over.

"Marjorie! You ok?" One of the doctors hurried over to me, I recognized her as Stephanie Baker.

"Yeah…I have to be." I grimaced, straightening upwards.

"We're getting you back to the Medical Center." Baker said firmly. "I don't want to take chances now that you're so close to your due date."

I knew better than to argue…maybe I was indeed in labor… "Ok, let's go."

* * *

**A/N:** A little heads up; the story will mostly be following Marjorie (don't worry, I'll be going back to Batman's POV from time to time) but right now in order to save my sanity and fingers, it'll be following Marjorie.

Ok, you know the drill; 10 more reviews (at least one thing you liked, and a suggestion for fixing, follow up chapters) so that's at least 40.


	5. Hush Little Deadshot

**A/N:** Hey guys! Sorry that took so long (I've had to work more hours on account of it being the Christmas season).

I'm glad my take on the Riddler was liked (as he is one of my favorite Batman villains). And you're right, dragonslayer223; he was a pain in the butt to write. Actually, if I remember right, that's why he didn't appear often in _Batman: The Animated Series_, even though he was very popular, because it was so hard to come up with challenges that wouldn't only be easy for the audience to figure out but not too easy for him to be out of character. And yes, Leo303, finding all of his riddles drove me crazy too, which was why I decided to make all the challenges in one spot.

You've asked for them…and here they are…

* * *

Hush Little Deadshot

For once, I was relieved when I was finally resting at the Medical Center. The pain was getting worse and more intense. Sammie was kicking away, giving me more grief. "Ok, let's see how you are." Stephanie said as I sat in the stirrups. She took one look and her eyes widened. "How in the world have you been able to run around Arkham City and save us when you're this far long in labor?"

The words shocked me. "How far along am I?!" My voice must've gone up an octave.

"Six centimeters. This is your first baby, right?" Stephanie started taking notes.

"Yeah, but I wasn't feeling any pain until about an hour or so ago. Thank the adrenaline for that."

"When did your water break?"

"I don't know…" then I remembered after I had gotten arrested. My legs felt wet…what if I hadn't peed myself but instead my water broke? "Hang on, after I got arrested, somebody injected something into me and mentioned a hook as I was passing out. When I woke up, my legs felt wet."

Stephanie nodded. "Then your labor was induced. The hook was most likely used to break the placenta, telling your body to start labor. Whatever was injected into you was something to speed up your contractions. Whatever was used to force the contractions is stronger than normal, hence why you're so far along in such a short period of time."

"Why would Strange have my labor induced?" I asked, rubbing my belly through another attack. "He did tell me earlier today it wouldn't be good if Sammie was born prematurely behind Arkham City's walls."

"I don't know." Stephanie shook her head. "In any case, you're staying here. Strange might've cut off our supplies but we'll be ok with the baby being born here. You two will be just fine."

I'm going to be a mother. I thought as put my jumpsuit back on and followed Stephanie to a made up cot. It was slowly sinking in. "My God…"

"You ok?" Stephanie asked as she brought in a couple of blankets. Some of my pals from Arkham were starting to make their way over, no doubt having heard the news about the baby coming.

"Just…I can't believe Sammie's coming now." I chuckled. "Bruce will have a heart attack when he finds out…" Bruce…Batman…he was out there and he didn't know the baby was coming. He'd drop everything and come over. Part of me wanted Bruce there. No…we needed to stop Strange. He'll forgive me if I don't tell him. Of course he'd be angry for missing the birth of his baby. But in time, he'd forgive me.

"I hope he's ok. Poor guy must have a target the size of Gotham painted on him…" Josephs shook his head.

"You trying to scare her, Josephs?" North scolded Josephs.

"Just saying…I heard the Penguin took him away as soon as he was brought into Arkham City. He hates the Waynes, blames them for the downfall of his family years ago." Josephs mumbled.

"No, he's ok." I said. "Batman helped him get somewhere safe." Sammie kicked. "You know we're talking about your daddy, don't you?" I said, rubbing my sore belly.

"Hey Marjorie!" Cash called out, escorting a man in a coat. "This guy wants to see you."

"Sure. How can I help you?" I smiled.

"I need Batman's help." The man shivered, I couldn't tell if it was because he was cold or if he was scared. Maybe it was both. "I was told you know the Batman."

"We work together on occasion." I patted the side of the bed. "Sit down." He did so. "What's wrong?"

"Somebody's out to kill me. I worked for Strange's security company, mostly on the communications tower. He threw me in here after Arkham City opened." He shivered, looking around nervously. "I've been able to lie low all this time, but then I got this today…"

"Slow down and start over. Who did Strange send after you?"

"It's…" **BANG!** There was a loud explosion and a shattering of glass. The man fell down, a perfect headshot. Blood sprayed everywhere.

"Jesus Christ!" We all jumped. Oh my God…somebody just got killed in front of me. I could've been hit…the baby could've been hit…

"You ok, Marjorie?" North asked.

"Yeah…I will be in a minute. Hey, what's that in his hand?" I got out of the bed and knelt beside the corpse. Something was glittering in his hand, I took it out. It was a shell casing; a word was engraved on it. "Oh no…"

"What?" Cash asked.

I showed him the casing. "Deadshot's loose in Arkham City."

* * *

"How in the world did he manage to deliver a perfect headshot through a decorated stained glass window?" North shook his head, looking at the bullet hole in the window.

"This is Deadshot we're talking about here." Cash said. "He brags that he has never missed…except the Batman that is."

"Excuse me," I walked off to a quiet corner. I had to get ahold of Batman. "Batman, this is Marjorie."

"He's too busy, what is it, Marjorie?" Oracle asked.

"We've got trouble. Deadshot is in Arkham City."

"What?!" Oracle gasped. "How do you know?"

"Because he killed somebody in front of me just now. The man he killed had a shell casing in his hand. I'm sending it to you now." I turned on the evidence scanner built into my goggles and scanned the casing. There was something strange about it…there was a transmitter in it, very similar to the one Batman and I have. "I've got an answer to your question North. This thing has a sonar beacon in it, similar to how dolphins find their prey while out hunting."

"So that means he has a receiver." Oracle muttered, working on something. "I'm alerting Dad right now. I'll try hacking into the transmitter when I get in, I know where it is and send the location to you."

I muttered. My mind was made up. Somebody had to stop him. Batman was too busy taking care of Joker. It was too dangerous for Nightwing and Robin to sneak into Arkham City. So that meant it had to be me. "Turn on the blast doors after I leave. I'm going after him."

"Are you crazy Marjorie?!" Oracle and Josephs said simultaneously.

"He's a master assassin! And with the baby coming…" Stephanie tied to stop me as I buckled my belt.

"And people will die if I don't stop him. Don't worry." I said, mostly trying to reassure myself. "I'll come right back after stopping him. Besides, he's got a big surprise coming his way if he thinks I'll be an easy target."

* * *

I went out on patrol. Come on, stomach it, I pressed myself as more pains seized me. "Sammie, please don't come now." I whispered, touching my belly.

"Protocol Ten will commence in five hours." Strange's voice came into the communications. We had to stop him…

Then I noticed something on the ground below me. It looked like a body. Oh man…I jumped off the light pole I was crouching on and landed beside it. His face was completely swathed in bandages…I remembered this from news reports and Batman's nightly patrols. Oh God…first Deadshot and now this.

"Oracle, we've got more trouble."

"Now what?" She groaned.

"Remember the Identity Thief?"

"The person who was killing people and cutting off their faces over the last couple of months? Yeah, what about them?"

"Well, looks like they have also set up shop in Arkham City."

"Are you sure?" Oracle asked, surprised.

"I think I'm looking at one of the calling cards now." I studied the body using my scanning device. "Yep, it's same M.O. Killer removed the face premortem, these are surgically precise cuts. Whoever it is has medical training, several years' worth at least. This is premeditated, big time." Something smelled funny…I took a couple of breaths. "I smell bleach. The killer must've used it to clean up. But the scene doesn't look disturbed. The victim was attacked and killed elsewhere, the body was dumped here."

"Why would somebody cut off other people's faces though? It doesn't make sense."

"Babs, this is Arkham City we're talking about here. _Nothing_ in this hellhole makes sense."

"Hey, I've managed to activate Deadshot's transmitter and track it. The transmitter appears to be located on roof of the Gotham City Olympus club. Be careful."

* * *

I ran to the roof of Gotham City Olympus. The device was hiding inside a deactivated circuit breaker. Very clever hiding spot, I thought as I opened it. Who would look inside a circuit breaker if they didn't know it was deactivated? Inside were shell magazines, a high powered rifle and a PDA.

"Oracle." I said, picking up the PDA. "Deadshot was hiding his equipment here. He dropped his PDA. I'm going to hack into it now." Taking out my encryption device, I began guessing the password. Thank goodness most people pick something related to their lives as their passwords. Let's see, Deadshot is an assassin…headshot. Yep, it was accepted! The screen came up; on it was a list of people he was contracted to hit. "Oracle, I've found a list of people Deadshot was hired to kill. Only three are left. Jack Ryder. Bruce Wayne. Batman."

"I'll locate Ryder now, he's probably gotten a sonar beacon like your previous victim…"

Then I realized something as I overlooked the PDA. "Damn it! He's working to a schedule…Jack Ryder's going to be dead in two minutes!"

"Ok, got him! Ryder is located in the Bowery, on the corner of Kane and Finger Streets across from the train station. Hurry Marjorie!"

"On my way!" Oh God…I prayed as I turned on my grapple gun and started flying across the rooftops. Please let me get there in time. _Please_ let me get there in time…the blocks disappeared the closer I got. Time seemed to slow down. Come on, Marjorie, hurry…Ryder came into sights, he was huddled over a fire alit in a barrel. Oh thank God, he's alive… "Ryder, get down!" I screamed as I more or less dive-bombed into him.

"What the hell…?!" Ryder yelled as we hit the cold hard asphalt. **BANG!** The gunshot rang out, slamming into the building behind us. Got him. He's safe. "Marjorie Wayne?!"

"At your service and you're welcome." I groaned, rolling off of him.

"Damn it! You made me miss my target Wilde! I never miss!" I heard a voice yell across the street. Deadshot…

"Obviously, he doesn't know that I'm married. Ryder, find somewhere safe and hide. I'll be right back."

"Where are you off to?" He asked.

"I'm going Deadshot hunting." I dryly remarked, grappling up to the roof of the train station.

I dove behind a concrete barrier and turned on my detective vision. Deadshot was using a laser pointer. I get in his line of sight, Sammie and I are dead meat. "Where are you hiding, Wilde?! I'm going to get you, you bitch!" He growled, waving his laser around. I noticed he was standing over a grate on an elevated space…if I get under him, then I'll take him down. First a distraction…I waited until he was turned away before throwing a Batarang, aiming it at a flag pole. "What the hell was that?!" Deadshot looked to investigate it. Now! I ran for the space underneath him. There, he can't see me…I got beneath him…now! I pushed up the grate and knocked him down. Jumping up, I saw that he was stunned. Not for long. I thought as I delivered a knockout punch. He stopped moving.

"Got you, you bastard." I smiled as I took away and destroyed his weapons with corrosive acid, tied him up and hoisted him feet first over the ground. "Sweet dreams, Deadshot. Oracle, mark my location and send it to your Dad. Deadshot is not going to bother anyone for a long time."

"I can't believe it. You've finally got the sonofabitch." Oracle laughed, relieved.

"What? Did you expect any less from the wife of the world's greatest detective?" I smiled. Somebody was watching me…I looked on a nearby roof. There was the shadow again…the man in the fedora and cloak. What? I squinted, trying to see him better, until I was interrupted by Oracle. "Sorry, Oracle, what was that?"

"I was asking what you were going to do now." Oracle said.

"Sorry about that," I said, turning away. "I'm going to see if Ryder's ok and we're going to make our way back to the church." Using my grapple gun, I returned to the corner where I had saved Jack Ryder. "Ryder? It's safe to come out." I called out. The trunk lid of a nearby car opened, Ryder had been hiding inside. I helped him get out. "Well, that's a unique hiding place if that ever was one. You hurt?"

"No…what was that for?" Ryder looked at me, his glasses cracked.

"Deadshot was after you." I panted, standing up and grimacing through another contraction. "Strange smuggled him inside the prison, he's been offing people left and right. You were on his list."

"Makes sense. I've been following Strange since he was appointed to run this hellhole. The things I do for a Pulitzer…hey, are you ok?" Ryder asked.

"Yeah, peachy keen, why do you ask?" I groaned.

"You look like death half-warmed up. No offense." Ryder said.

He was right. I was bathed in sweat, red-faced from the cold and my braid was coming undone. "You try going through the night I've had tonight and we'll see if you look ready for the five o'clock news." There was an ear-piercing shriek from a nearby alley. "What was that?!"

"That sounded like Vicki!" Ryder turned pale.

"Come on then!" We started running.

* * *

Sure enough, Vicki was cowering in the corner of a nearby alley. Right in front of her was another dead body, their face wrapped in bandages. The Identity Thief has struck again, I realized sadly. "Vicki! You ok?!" Ryder yelled, hugging Vicki.

"Oh my God…oh my God…" Vicki was crying, mascara running down her face. It was clear she was an innocent bystander and had seen something terrible.

I began analyzing the scene. Just like before, the killer killed the victim after the face had been removed. Using bleach to clean up, the poor victim had been killed elsewhere and his body dumped there. But this time, the killer left a scalpel behind. There was a clean fingerprint. It didn't match anybody in the database. "Oracle, the Identity Thief has struck again. This time they left a scalpel behind with a beautiful set of prints. They don't match anybody in the G.C.P.D. database. Track them down." I said into my earpiece.

"Ok, I'll look in every database and let you know what I find."

"Thanks, Oracle." I pocketed the scalpel and turned back to Vicki, still clinging to Ryder and crying. I took her hands in mine. "Vicki? Vicki honey, please tell me what happened. It's the only way we're going to catch this bastard."

"I was arrested by Strange and thrown into here shortly after you and your husband were." Vicki shook. "I hid in here. Then he came in carrying that body. He made me help threw his body in here. When it was over, he held a finger to his lips and made a hushing noise, like this." Vicki held a finger to her lips and made the noise. "Then he ran away. I screamed once he was gone. Marjorie…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Ok, sweetie, it's not your fault. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." I soothed.

"No. It's not that." Vicki hiccupped. Oracle came over again.

"Marjorie…I found a match to the prints." She sounded upset and confused.

"Who is it, Oracle?" I asked, touching my earpiece.

"It's Bruce's left thumbprint."

* * *

"What?!" I asked. Taking my finger off my earpiece, I looked at Vicki. "Vicki, who did you see dumping the body?"

"Don't get mad at me, but it was your husband. His face was all cut and bruised like he had been in a really nasty fight. God…"

I _knew_ something was wrong. The evidence might be there…but I knew my husband was innocent. "And you're sure it was Bruce?" I asked.

"I know what I saw! I'm sorry Marjorie, but your husband dumped his body there. And I'm also convinced your husband killed that man!" Vicki shouted.

"Ok, there's no need to shout. I just wanted to make sure."

"I can't believe Bruce would do something like that." Vicki said.

"He didn't." I said, convinced of my husband's innocence.

"Marjorie…" Oracle said, hesitant. "You can't rule out that possibility. Maybe Strange did something to him in the period between his arrest and dumping him into Arkham. I know you don't like it, I don't either, but we have to accept that…"

"Oracle. I _know_ my husband. Bruce would never _ever_ do anything like this…" it suddenly clicked. "Wait, Oracle, which thumbprint was it?"

"It was his left thumbprint, why?"

"Bruce is right-handed. The prints were placed there, most likely by somebody wearing gloves with Bruce's fingerprints cut into them. You know those types of gloves exist."

"So what does that mean?" Ryder asked, having listened to our conversation.

"It means the killer is most likely left-handed. Oracle, flag the Identity Thief for further investigation. Make sure Batman gets it when he gets a moment. I'm going to get Ryder and Vale to the Medical Center. We'll be safer there." I took a deep breath as another contraction hit. They were getting stronger and closer together. Damn, Sammie wasn't going to wait.

* * *

I began escorting Vicki and Ryder to the church, keeping our eyes and ears open for trouble. Sure enough, about a block away, trouble came looking for us. "Hey! It's Batman's bitch! Get her!" A group of thugs began running towards us.

I took out my Beretta and Sam's Smith and Wesson. "Ryder! Vicki! Run to the church and get inside!"

"What about you?!" Vicki yelled as Ryder began pulling her away.

"I'll catch up later!" I began firing. When I ran out of ammunition, I began kicking and punching.

"Not for long Margie! The boss wants you!" A thug growled as I hit him.

"Go to hell!" I screamed as I was backed into an alley. By this point, there were only two left. I almost had them…then I tripped on something, landing on my ass.

"You were saying? We got you now…" the two thugs smiled. I was out of ammunition and the pain was getting worse.

**BANG! BANG!** I screamed as the thugs in front of me fell down. Shivering and shaking, I looked out of the alley. Standing there, dressed in a long trench-coat and holding a pistol was…

"Bruce?!" I looked at him in shock.

"Hello, Marjorie." He smiled at me, putting his pistol away in the holster on his left side. Something was off about him.

"What's going on?" I asked as whoever it was helped me up.

"What? No hug for me?" Bruce held out his arms. Nervously, I went into his embrace. He smelled like iron and bleach…what was going on? I looked up at his face. "What's the matter?"

"What happened to your face?" I ran my fingers over the scarring.

"I got roughed up in a fight was all. Lucky I got out." I heard him taking deep breaths and pulling on his neck. I studied the scars further. They didn't seem like the kind one sustained in a fight. They seemed almost…surgical… "Come on, let's go somewhere safe." Before I could protest, he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and began pulling me away from the church.

Something was wrong. Something was _really_ wrong…Bruce used a gun. He told me he'd never _touch_ a gun. Not after what happened to his folks all those years ago…

"How's Sammie?" He touched my belly familiarly. Sammie, who usually kicked when Bruce touched my tummy, didn't move.

"We're ok." There was only one way to be sure. "Hey…I'm having a craving."

Bruce laughed, the sound only made me shiver. "It's not the Ritz, Marjorie."

"Shrimp and lemon juice." I said as we got closer to a building not too far from the courthouse.

"I don't have that. But when we get out of here, I'll have Alfred make all the shrimp and lemon cocktails you could ever want. How does that sound?"

There. He had fallen right into the trap. The real Bruce knew that shrimp and lemon juice made me sick every time I smelled it. "Awesome. All I needed to know." Drawing the scalpel, I scratched his face.

"Augh!" The imposter fell down, hissing. "What the hell was _that_ for?!" His voice changed into another familiar voice…one I had heard from Arkham…

"You're not my husband!" I yelled, punching him. He blocked it and twisted it violently. I screamed in pain as a bone popped. I recognized the voice and the cold eyes… "Dr. Thomas Elliot! What the hell are you up to?!"

"Good old fashioned revenge…Bruce will pay for that he did to me." Elliot chuckled and stood up, taking a syringe out of his pocket. The imposter stabbed me in the neck and pumped the contents in. I yelped as coldness rushed through me. "Oh, don't worry. He doesn't want either you or the baby hurt…yet. But there's no running, Marjorie. Not from Strange. And definitely not from me…"

**BANG!** There was a loud explosion and a flash of light. Elliot let me go. I fell to the ground, whimpering as a powerful contraction seized me. I watched as a figure in a long blue cloak and matching fedora punched and beat up the imposter.

It's him…the man who helped me earlier…darkness was overtaking me. Elliot was down and out. The figure walked closer to me, the golden medallion around his neck shone of its own accord. "Hang on, Marjorie…" he said as he picked me up. His voice is so familiar. I thought as I lost consciousness.

* * *

Meanwhile, across Arkham City, Batman finally managed to infiltrate the manager's office in the old Sionis Steel Mill. "No!" Quinn wailed. There was a monotone sound from a heart monitor, the sign of a flat-line. Quinn was kneeling at the Joker's body, crying. "Why, why, why why?!" She looked up at Batman, grimacing as he walked closer. "You…! You had to do this to him!"

So the rumors he had overheard while sneaking into the mill were true…the Joker was indeed ill. "Get out of my way, Quinn." Batman growled.

"No! Just leave me with him." Quinn cried, bowing her head over his knees.

"I said…get out of my way!" Batman yelled, pulling Quinn away and examining Joker's body. He was deader than a doornail on Christmas Eve, as Marjorie would say. So why did he feel that something was wrong?

"SURPRISE!" Joker's voice rang in his ear as somebody jumped on his back. A gas mask pressed over Batman's nose and mouth. Green gas sprayed out, making Batman cough. "You fell for the old fake Joker gag Batman!"

Dizzy, Batman fell to his knees as Joker jumped off his back. Fight it…Quinn appeared in his view, resting a baseball bat across her shoulders. "Batter up!" She slammed the baseball bat into Batman's face. He cried out, collapsing to the ground.

Don't pass out. Fight it and get out of here. Batman tried getting away, but he couldn't.

For Marjorie.

For the baby…Batman passed out.

* * *

"Hmmm?" I regained consciousness. A blurred figure hovered over me. It's the man…I thought as I blinked away the dizziness.

"Easy. Easy." He said as I sat up, a gloved hand rested on my shoulder.

"Where am I?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"Somewhere safe…for now anyways." He said as I sat up. "Are you badly hurt?"

"My elbow got pulled but I'll live. Where's Elliot?" I looked around. We were on the rooftops; the old G.C.P.D. building was just steps away. Off in the distance, I could see Arkham Island, the place that started this whole mess…but enough of that.

"He's gone for now." The man in the fedora looked away. I tried to make out his facial features better, but they were hidden thanks to the shadow of his hat. But I could faintly see the gleam of his eyes…they looked almost…white…

"You got me my supplies and were watching me when I took down Deadshot. Why?"

"Can't a person do a good deed simply because they wish to?" He smiled gently…it reminded me so much of Sam's smile. "And you must be more careful; every single thug in Arkham City is looking for you, no thanks to Strange."

"You always seem to vanish and reappear at just the right time. Batman might be the master of it, but I've gotten good enough to notice him approaching through the shadows. Are you like a magician or something?"

"You could say that." He chuckled, again it was like I was hearing my brother again. "But I can't directly end a crisis. I'm simply the guiding hand and the advisor."

"Who are you?"

"I am the Phantom Stranger and the Stranger comes when the Stranger is needed."

Before I could ask more, Oracle's voice came over my earpiece. "Are you there, Marjorie?"

"Loud and clear, what's up?" I asked, looking away.

"I overheard Vicki trying to contact her superiors outside of Arkham City by radio. She said that you were overwhelmed by thugs…"

"Yeah, I'm ok. A friend saved me…" I looked over to thank the Phantom Stranger. But he was gone. "Hey…where did he go?!"

"Where did who go?" Oracle asked.

"The guy who saved me, he called himself the Phantom Stranger. You're not going to believe this, but he reminded me so much of Sam…" Is it Sam? It could be…this job had taught me that things were far more than they seemed…but he was dead, I held his body in my arms as he died and I watched as he was buried. But still…it might be…or maybe I was hoping too much.

"We'll talk about that later. Vicki also mentioned that you're far along in labor. Is that true?" Oracle was concerned.

Stephanie and the others must've told Vicki when they got into the church. "Yeah…no thanks to Strange. He injected something into me and induced my labor. According to Dr. Baker, I'm about six centimeters in roughly five hours."

"Does Bruce know?" Oracle asked.

"No. I don't want to worry him. I'll tell him as soon as possible, and please let me do it." I ordered.

"Why would Strange induce your labor? It wouldn't be good for him if the baby was born in Arkham, and aren't you about a month away from your due date?"

"Yeah, he did say something like that, but the Phantom Stranger said that everyone in Arkham City is out looking for me. He blamed Strange for that…" Sammie kicked me and I suddenly realized why Strange had my labor induced and why every thug was after me. And it made me sick to my stomach. "Oh my God."

"What is it Marjorie?" Oracle was scared.

"Strange isn't after me…he's after the baby."

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah, again, I had to tweak the Deadshot and Hush storylines for simplicity's sake and also to explain how Marjorie was able to do that while being in labor…and the reason I made Hush left-handed (and its not that I have anything against lefties. Because I don't. My aunt, brother and several of my cousins are lefties) was to tip off to Marjorie (and hence the readers) who Hush was.

At least ten more reviews so that makes at least fifty. At least one thing you liked, and at one thing that needs fixing or a suggestion for future chapters. Yada, yada, yada…

I don't think I'll get the next chapter posted until after Christmas. So an early Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


	6. Freezing Death

Freezing Death

**A/N:** I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I'm also happy how Deadshot and Hush were accepted…yes, Strange does have unpleasant plans for the baby…he's sick and twisted enough and I think I've made him worse.

* * *

"What are you planning on doing?" Oracle asked as soon as she got her voice back.

"I don't know. All I know is that it's too dangerous for everyone at the Medical Center if I go back there." I needed to lie low; no doubt Strange has been paying attention to Vicki's broadcasts. Yet I couldn't leave Arkham City. Batman needed my help…then it came to me. "Victor. I'll go to Victor."

"I don't know, Marjorie." Oracle hesitated. "I know Freeze was your friend before he…became a walking ice cube…but what makes you think that he'll let you hide out with him."

"Victor's main concern in Nora, he hates Strange as much as Batman and I do and he's my friend. He won't let anything happen to Sammie and me."

"So how are you going to find him?" Oracle asked.

I was stumped. I knew he needed subzero temperatures in order to survive and he would have to be somewhere that had specialized lab equipment in order to keep researching the disease that affected Nora…then I saw the old G.C.P.D. building. "So _that's_ why the Phantom Stranger dropped me off here…"

"What are you talking about?" Oracle asked.

"Victor is at the old G.C.P.D. building. He has to be, not only does its forensics lab have everything it needs but its freezer is powerful enough to protect Victor." Taking out my grapple gun, I hooked up to a gargoyle and flew towards it.

* * *

Batman slowly came to, his head throbbing. Quinn's fingers were on the edge of his cowl. "Get back here, Harley!" Joker growled from the shadows before coughing.

"But I wanna know who it is, sweetie!" Quinn pouted but meekly obeyed.

"Nobody is who you think they are, my dear. Why spoil the fun?" Joker asked, stroking Quinn's cheek.

"It was all a lie." Batman looked up. "There was nothing wrong with you."

"Nice of you to say, but you of all people should know…" Joker stepped up to Batman. His face was covered with oozing sores and scars. "…there's plenty wrong with me." Smiling, Joker held up a vial. "Take my blood for instance. Wish somebody would…this stuff is killing me!"

"Why should I care?"

"Because there's now a teeny bit of me in you too, Bats!" Joker pointed to Batman's side. A bag of blood was hooked to his arm. Batman finally realized that he was tied up in the wheelchair that had held Joker. He struggled to get loose. "Aw come on! Don't tell me it's what you've always wanted! Look, we're running out of time! Find me a cure!"

"So we both die…I'm fine with that." Batman grimly accepted his fate. Then he remembered Marjorie and Sammie…he couldn't leave them behind. He couldn't leave Gotham behind.

"I imagined you would…imagine, sucking down that last breath, knowing Gotham is doing exactly the same!"

"What are you talking about?!"

"I've spent weeks shipping samples of my blood to every emergency room in Gotham!"

"So that's Protocol Ten…poison Gotham. I expected more." Batman tried to escape.

"Protocol Ten…" Joker gasped then turned serious. "Never heard of it! Hold tight…" He whispered in Batman's ear before kicking Batman backwards. **CRASH!** Batman went flying backwards out the window and down to the ground below. "I'll be in touch!" Joker's laughter was the last thing Batman heard before he crashed onto the hard pavement.

* * *

I carefully opened the door and stepped into the lab. "Victor?" I began shivering. It was so damned cold. A fog swept across the floors and the lab equipment glistened with frost. "Victor? It's me…Marjorie. I need your help…"

I heard the familiar clattering as he stepped closer. The armor swamped the average sized man, definitely making him imposing indeed. His infrared goggles lifted up, showing his light blue eyes. "Hello Marjorie." Victor said. "Why are you here? You are aware of the bounty Strange put on your head?"

"I know." I said, grimacing through another wave of pain. "And that's why I need your help. Sammie needs your help." God…God this really hurts! What was it Elliot stabbed into me? Probably more stuff to speed up my contractions.

"What's wrong?" Victor looked at me.

"The baby…Strange wants the baby…I couldn't risk anybody else's safety at the Medical Center." I sat down on a nearby stool, wincing at the pain. "Please, help me." I begged, desperate. "Strange had my labor induced. In a few more hours, this baby will be born. I trust you."

Victor nodded. "Nora wouldn't forgive me if something happened to you or the baby."

"Thank you, thank you so much Victor." I said, grateful.

"Although, I'll admit this isn't a good place for the baby to be born."

"If I haven't noticed…" I chuckled, shivering. "But I just need somewhere to lie low until Batman and I try to find out what Strange is up to. Have you heard of Protocol Ten?"

"No, I haven't. Why?"

Before I could answer, Batman came into my earpiece. "Marjorie, Joker has poisoned me with TITAN."

What…what?! "Ok…what do you want me to do?" I took a deep breath. Batman knows what he's doing. Everything was going to be ok.

"Oracle told me you're with Mr. Freeze. Stay with him. See if you can get him to make an antidote. I'm on my way."

"Ok." I hung up and turned to Victor. "Batman was poisoned by Joker. It's the same stuff that turned him into a monster on Arkham Island."

"And…?" Victor asked.

I was shocked at his almost cavalier attitude. "Please, can't you help him?!"

"On one condition. Nora."

"What about her?" I asked.

"Joker has her. He threatened to have me blown to bits if I try rescuing her myself. I won't make the antidote until Batman saves Nora."

I had to do something. I had no idea how badly sick Joker had made Batman. What else could I do? "If I get Nora, will you make the antidote for Batman?" My husband was dying and I was going to do anything to save him.

"But you're in labor…" Victor protested.

"I don't know how sick Batman is. He may be too weak to save Nora. But I can." I said, reloading my weapons.

Victor nodded. "I've built a location device into her capsule. You should be able to access it from a radio set to our wedding date. And Marjorie?" He called out as I was about to turn away. In his hands was a collection of really small capsules. "I was developing these. They may prove to be useful. Throw these and they instantly freeze when broken."

"Thanks," I said, putting the capsules in my belt. "Batman will be here any minute. Start working on that antidote. I'll be back with Nora."

* * *

I stepped outside the G.C.P.D. building. The wind was picking up, flurries blew into my face. Ok, Victor set the transmitter on their wedding date. 7-9-1-9-9-2. Perfect, I thought as my radio began to bleep. It seemed to be coming from the Falcone Shipping Yards. "Hang on Nora." I whispered as I flew across the city skylines.

Here we are…Warehouse 5B…that's where the signal is the strongest. The back docks weren't guarded, and I found a grate in a small niche in the wall. But how was I going to reach that without falling into the subzero waters of Gotham Bay? The capsules…I threw one into the water. It froze into a rock hard sheet of ice. There you go. I carefully jumped onto it before using my grappling gun to get to the vent.

Using my Batclaw, I opened the grate and crawled through into the room. The duct lead beneath the back room, I found a grate to let me through. There were five of them. No biggie, I can take that. "So who will decide what to do with the ice cube?" I heard somebody call out.

"Let's melt her out and see why Freeze thinks she's great stuff…I call first dibs!" Someone else wolf whistled. Ok. I need to get her out of here. If she's broken out of her protective casing, she'll die.

Carefully, I threw a smoke pellet up through the grates. Smoke flooded the room. "What the hell…?!" Now! I jumped through the grates. "Oh shit! It's Batman!"

"Sorry to disappoint boys!" I fired until I ran out of ammunition. It took a bit more going as the pain was getting worse…maybe this wasn't such a smart idea…I couldn't kick or punch as hard and fast as I wanted. God…I really needed to take a break…but Nora needed me! Grabbing a pipe one of the thugs had dropped, I began swinging.

Ugh…I thought once the last thug had dropped. The sooner Batman got his cure, the happier was going to be. As much as I wanted to help him, I knew I could only wait until the baby was born…and how was Nora? I turned on my detective vision and examined her. Her heartbeat was slow but she was fine. Now to unlock the front door so Victor can get access…taking out my device, I figured out the password and unlocked the door. Now to make sure only Victor and I can access it…yes! Reset the password!

Mission accomplished. Now to get back and find a cure for Batman.

* * *

Batman was so close to the G.C.P.D. building when he felt the pain seize him again. God…he felt hot and cold all at once. Coughing, something misted out of his mouth. Was that…blood…no time. He had to get to Marjorie and Freeze…he fell to his knees, exhausted, weak, dying…

A warm and bright light came before him. "Bruce…?" A woman's voice called out to him. Mom…? "Honey, it's us." Looking up he saw two familiar figures standing in the bright light before him. "You need to step into the light and come home. Your father and I have missed you so much…please come to us and we'll be a family again…"

"Batman…?!" Another voice came into his ear. Marjorie? "Batman?! Batman! Don't you dare go on me and Sammie. Not now!"

Yes…yes, he couldn't leave Sammie without a father. He didn't want his child to grow up without a father like he had. The light and his parents faded away. Marjorie was shaking him. Marjorie…what was she doing here?

"Marjorie…?" Batman asked, his voice a hoarse whisper.

"Oh thank God…" she sighed, a tear rolled down her cheek. "I…I was so worried…"

"It's ok. I'm here now." Batman said, getting to his feet. "What are you doing here instead of with Freeze?"

"He asked me to make sure Nora was safe." Marjorie said. "It was a condition he made. If I found Nora, he'd make you an antidote. Come on," she helped sling Batman's arm over her shoulder. "Come on…you're getting worse…"

They limped towards the G.C.P.D. Batman felt his consciousness slipping away as they entered the icy lab. "You don't look well, Batman." Freeze commented, looking up from his centrifuge.

"Nora's safe. She's at Warehouse 5B in the Falcone Shipping Yards. She's safe, just remember your wedding day when getting into the warehouse." Marjorie helped Batman sit down on a stool.

Freeze smiled at Marjorie. "Thank you, Marjorie. As I promised, the cure." He took something out of the centrifuge and hooked it to a jet injector. Marjorie helped Batman roll down his glove, revealing his elbow. There was a hissing noise and a sharp prick as the cure went into his arm. Immediately, he felt relief. "You'll be unconscious for about an hour and disoriented for two more. But you'll be feeling much better. There's a small room off to the side stocked with a cot and blankets. You'll be safer there."

"I'll take him up." Marjorie said. "Come on, you great useless thing." She slung his arm over his shoulder again and helped him up. Batman fought off the woozy feeling as best he could. He felt himself slipping away as Marjorie helped lie him down and tucked a blanket around him. "Suppose you don't want a bedtime story."

"No thanks…but Gotham…"

"Shush…" Marjorie touched his dry cracked lips with her finger. "It'll be ok. Robin, Nightwing and I can handle Gotham. Now rest."

* * *

I kissed Batman as he fell asleep. He was so peaceful just resting there. I smiled as I left. He was ok. My husband was going to be ok.

"How is he?" Victor asked as I returned to the lab, closing the door behind me.

"He's asleep now. Thank you, Victor." I said to Victor, smiling. "Thank you so much."

"Thank you for saving Nora."

**CRACK! BANG!** "What the hell was that?!" I yelled, drawing my firearms. Men rushed the lab, the signal of a bird was painted on their arms…Penguin's men…I began firing as best I could. There was a ringing noise as Victor used his freeze gun. I took down a couple of thugs. "Ha! Is that the best you guys got?!" I screamed. **WOOSH! **There was a rushing sound and it suddenly got hot…very hot…what the hell was that? I saw giant fireball…then came the man with a tank on his back and yielding a giant blowtorch. "Great, Penguin's got a flame-thrower!" I yelled at Victor. I was now out of ammunition so I resulted in using my fists…but the pain made it too hard to fight back…

We were overwhelmed…"Lights out!" one of the men yelled, shoving the butt of his rifle into my face…

* * *

I smelled cigar smoke. What the hell…? I coughed as I came too. Sammie kicked, the little one was ok. " 'Ello Margie Wayne." Penguin leered down at me.

Oh great, I was being held hostage by Penguin…now what?!

* * *

**A/N:** So we were are…ten more reviews…at least seventy…at least one thing you liked and a suggestion for fixing or for further chapters…


	7. Night at the Museum

**A/N:** Hey guys! I'm glad Freeze was accepted. I tried to make him a little colder (no pun intended) than he was in _Never Leave Your Partner Behind_ but I think because he still loves Nora (and since Marjorie was a friend of his before his mutation and has also been relatively sympathetic to him since what happened), he'd help Marjorie.

And yes, Shadow Knight 1211 and Jedi Master Chris, it does seem a little fast that Batman was cured but I hope this chapter shows that he'll be affected by the cure…

And a word of warning…I did have to shorten the big boss fight between Batman and Grundy…just so you guys know.

* * *

Night at the Museum

Batman woke up. What happened…Joker had poisoned him, the cure…it had been an hour. Freeze did say that he would be disoriented. "Marjorie?" He called out, pushing the blanket off him and getting to his feet. His vision spun and he nearly lost his footing. "Marjorie?" He tried again, gripping the wall for support. She wasn't answering. Something was wrong. Where was she? Vision spinning and footsteps wobbly, he struggled into the main lab. The whole place was a mess. Papers were flying everywhere and equipment was destroyed. "Marjorie?! Freeze?!"

But there was no answer. Her tracker. Activate her tracker… "Alfred, do you have Marjorie's location? She was taken hostage."

"I'm working on that now, sir. And how was your nap? I trust Mr. Freeze gave you the cure."

"Yeah, he did warn that I would be disoriented. Ugh." Feeling sick, Batman doubled over and breathed deeply. When he felt like the room wasn't spinning anymore, he lifted his head slowly. But it didn't work and everything began spinning again.

"Sir? I've found Ms. Marjorie's signal. She is inside the Cyrus P. Gold Museum."

Batman tightened his fists. "Penguin."

* * *

"How about a little fun, Margie?" Penguin smirked at me. I was inside the Iceberg Longue, lying flat on a table. Fortunately whoever tied me down was really bad at knots. I slowly worked on getting my wrists loose. My legs were spread out and Penguin stood threateningly in front of them. "I've heard you've kept Wayne's bed warm. Hell, you're carrying his brat to prove it. Since he's not here, how about you keep mine warm? You do look a little cold." He guffawed, sounding like a penguin crying.

Hell no, that wasn't going to happen to me. By this time I had gotten loose and found the Beretta I had hidden in my utility belt. I sat up quickly and cocked it. "Cobblepot, if you touch me, I'll use your nuts for target practice, got it?!" He flinched, stepping back. "I did it to a guy on Arkham Island when he tried the same shit. He survived but is walking around Arkham City now without his family jewels."

"I know." He mumbled as he stepped away. I kept my Beretta and eyes aimed on him. "You're quite a gal, Marjorie Wilde. I'm what you call a collector. If I don't have it, I'll get it. I've got a special trophy case with your name on it! But since I'm feeling rather sporting tonight, I'll make you a proposition."

"What kind of proposition?" I asked, untying my ankles.

"Remember your ten pals from Precinct 13? Well, I've got them here, all spread out around my Iceberg Longue and museum along with your friend, the ice cube."

What the…?! Gordon was thinking about sending them in to find out what was going on…somebody must've betrayed them. "If you or your goons have done anything to hurt my friends, you've got another thing coming, Cobblepot." I got off the table.

"That's why I haven't, Margie. Here's my proposal. I've been updating the Iceberg Longue and Museum but need to see if it's perfect. So I've got your pals all spread out throughout. Your job is to find all of them…without any of my men finding you. If you find every one of them, then I'll let all of you go, unharmed. I give my word of a gentleman."

Huh, your idea of gentlemen and mine are miles apart. "And if I don't?"

"If you refuse or are caught…then you go in your special trophy case…without that fancy utility belt or jumpsuit." He took a long puff off of his cigar and bleached it into my face. I coughed. "I think it's fair."

I didn't have any other choice. "As long as you keep your promise. Or else you're going to have twelve very angry people after you; Mr. Freeze, Precinct 13 and me."

He smiled, showing his rotten yellow teeth. "Then let the games begin."

I left the Iceberg Longue. I heard a man shivering. "Marjorie…help me…"

"Forrester!" I cried out. The stout officer was encased in ice…Penguin shot Freeze's ice gun at him…this wasn't good.

"I decided to be nice and give you a freebie." Penguin cackled as I punched the ice and yanked Forrester free.

"You ok?" I asked.

"Yeah…thanks…" Forrester shivered.

"Where are they others?" I asked.

"Throughout the Museum, we were all separated when Penguin busted us." Forrester rubbed his arms against his chest, trying to warm up. His once white wife-beater was painted with the words DEAD COP in dark purple and his orange jumpsuit was torn.

"Ok, first step is to…" I looked out and saw that the Iceberg Longue was built inside a giant aquarium, completely covered with ice. "Jesus Christ."

"Told you I was remodeling the place. How do you like it? Well enjoy ice-skating you two." Penguin grinned at us.

"Wait until I get my hands on you…" Forrester clenched his fists. I grabbed his shoulder.

"Leave him. We'll get him later. Right now we need to get our pals out of here." I warned. "Come on, let's find a way down." There was a little ladder off the cast iron catwalk. Perfect. I climbed over it and began climbing down. While Forrester was following me, I turned on my detective vision. There were four people frozen in the ice, dead obviously. My computer didn't recognize them as members of Precinct 13 but thugs that had crossed Penguin. But there were two figures frozen to the wall…Strickland and Whitman were also incased in ice.

I took a couple of steps before the ice began to crack. This isn't good. "Be careful and walk slowly Forrester, the ice is really thin." I warned.

"Tell me something I don't know." He muttered. We slowly stepped across the ice, wincing every time we heard cracking. We were very close to Whitman and Strickland when Forrester tapped my shoulder. "Oh and before I forget, watch out for Tiny."

What? "Tiny…? What the heck is…?" **CRACK!** The edge of the ice broke and a giant shark burst through. "TINY!" I nearly lost my balance and fell backwards. Forrester caught me and stabilized me as the shark chomped angrily at the ice before disappearing under the water. "What the effing hell was that?!"

Penguin's voice came over the intercom. "Sorry, Margie. Did I forget to mention my little friend down there? Meet Tiny. Who'd have that such a _big_ fish could be _so_ useful? Not me, _that's_ for sure! He's like a mobile garbage truck. Whatever I drop into that tank just…vanishes. Poof. Problem gone!" He cackled. I couldn't wait to get my hands on the fat bastard's neck and strangle the life out of him. After I kicked his blubbery ass to kingdom come that is.

"How are we going to get to them?" Forrester pointed to the frozen figures. Ok Marjorie…think…I saw a raft hanging above the small surface of water. Problem solved. I took out a Batarang and tossed it, cutting the rope. The raft splashed into the water. Taking out my Batclaw, I shot it at the raft edge and began pulling it in.

"Hop on the Ice Raft Express." I joked, getting on. Forrester hopped on and I aimed my Batclaw at the giant iron ring by Whitman. It hooked and I began pulling away. I decided to try lightening the mood. "Row, row, row your raft gently down the stream. If you see a great white shark, don't forget to scream."

"Could…always….count on you to…lighten the mood…Marjorie." Whitman smiled as Forrester and I cut him down. "Get Strickland…over there…"

"That's on the agenda." I said, hooking the Batclaw by Strickland and pulling away. "Hang on, we're coming." I shouted.

"Take…your…time. Does it…look like…I can go…anywhere?" Strickland tried to laugh.

* * *

It took longer than he anticipated…but Batman arrived at the museum. He had to stop several times along the way and hide until his vision improved and his vertigo went away. But at least it was improving slightly.

He heard a low whistle by him. "You ok?" Standing there, his cowl pulled low over his face and holding his Bo staff, was Robin.

"I'm getting there. Why did Alfred send you?"

"He was worried about you. First you get poisoned and are now disoriented?"

That reminded him… "Here. Get this blood analyzed and go through all the hospitals in Gotham. Anybody with this in their veins will be dead within twenty-four hours." Batman tossed the blood sample he managed to collect from himself before arriving at the G.C.P.D.

"Whose blood is it…? Oh, it's yours, isn't it?" Robin said, looking at him. "I'm staying. You and Marjorie need my help."

"No. You're needed in Gotham. Get that blood analyzed."

Robin nodded. "Oh and before I forget, take this. Alfred said you'd might need it." He tossed the line launcher at Batman. Perfect. "How come you don't order Marjorie around?" Robin asked.

"Because I know she won't listen." Batman mumbled. He watched as Robin flew away. Marjorie…he wondered if she and Sam were ok…no. Don't think of that now. Batman aimed his grapple gun at a lamppost by the front door. Marjorie could take care of herself and the baby. If anything, she's probably got Cobblepot on the run. That image made him chuckle.

Heading inside the museum, he saw that the main arch was locked. Taking out his cryptographic sequencer, he tired figuring out the password. At once, the screen began fizzling out.

"Oh, having a little trouble getting inside?" Penguin's mocking voice came over the intercom. "Sorry to tell you this, Batman. But there's no way you're getting inside!"

Damn it…he must have sequence blockers…Batman calibrated the cowl to track jamming signals. There were three of them. All located outside the museum. He got to his feet, trying to ignore the dizziness as best he could. Batman hurried back outside to destroy the equipment when he realized something…only military grade equipment could block the cryptographic sequencer.

How did Penguin get his hands on them?

* * *

"I don't want to leave you guys here undefended." I said when we finally got Strickland freed.

"Hang on, what's that?" Forrester pointed to an army trunk sitting at the ladder leading off to the wings.

"Don't open it." I ordered before scanning it. "Yep, it's clear. I was checking to see if there were any booby traps. But it's got some interesting stuff in it."

"Like that? Shark repellent?" Forrester shivered as he opened the trunk. "Holy Shi…"

"Shush!" I said, touching my finger to my lips. "We don't need Penguin knowing what we've found." I muttered.

"Oh right." Forrester whispered as he picked up an anti-assault rifle. Stickman and Whitman whistled. "Damn, how does he get this stuff?"

"From somebody on the outside, probably." I said, finding ammunition for my Beretta and Smith and Wesson. "Or maybe it was stolen from TYGER guards." I pointed to the striped T logo on the side of the locker.

"No matter how that overstuffed turkey got it, it's ours now." Whitman said as he took out a rifle. "We're coming with you, Marjorie. Never leave your partner behind, remember?"

"I know." I winced through another contraction. "But all three of you are still cold and weak from being turned into popsicles. This is home base, so guard it with your life. If I find anyone else, I'll send them your way. Mr. Freeze was taken hostage too, so if you see the seven foot robot walking around, remember he's a friend." I said, beginning to climb the ladder.

Once I reached the top, I touched my belly "Listen Samantha Martha Wayne or Thomas Samuel Wayne, whichever you are. You are to stay put and out of trouble. If you don't stay put until after Mommy and Batman takes care of that obese pigeon, you won't be allowed to become a crime fighter until you're at least forty." I laughed, knowing that the baby probably wouldn't understand what I was saying. But it made me laugh and laughing made me feel good. Sammie kicked and the strange thing about it was that it seemed like the baby understood what I was saying.

Now to find everyone else…

* * *

Come on, Wayne. Batman panted as he hid from the final team guarding the last signal jammer. The first two were easy to find, they were on the surface and close to the museum. The other was in the abandoned train station beneath the Bowery. Were they armed? To his surprise, they weren't. Closing his eyes, Batman took deep breaths. The dizziness stopped when he had his eyes closed. Wait a minute…maybe he could use this to his advantage…

He opened his eyes and threw a smoke pellet at the group. They became disoriented and distracted…now! Closing his eyes, he crept into the line of fire. Using his hearing, he took everyone down. Because his eyes were closed, he didn't have to worry about the dizziness. Focus on the sounds…the smells…the feelings…within minutes, it was over. He opened his eyes and saw that everyone was down. Now to destroy that jammer before he got dizzy again. He shoved his fist in the screen and pulled out the wires.

Got them! Now to get into the museum. He returned to the museum, again, he had to slow down and stop in corners to control the dizziness. At least it wasn't going to last.

He got into the museum and entered the password. The gates opened and he got inside. There was the loud sound of arguing. Batman walked up to the balcony overlooking the exhibit, not jumping when the automaton of dinosaur jumped out. It fizzled out mid-roar and stood there, jaw agape. Looking down and fighting back the dizziness, he saw that two thugs were threatening a prisoner…Elvis Jones of Precinct 13! What was he doing here?! No matter…he had to stop them.

Thankfully, they weren't armed. Again, he jumped down to them and closed his eyes, fighting completely blind. This was getting easier and easier. His sight was nothing, his senses much better when he had his eyes closed.

Batman opened his eyes, seeing that everyone was down, except for Officer Jones. His wife-beater read in dark purple DEAD COP. "Thanks man! I thought I was dead meat!"

"You're of Precinct 13, what are you doing here?"

"Gordon sent us in to find out what was going on…somebody squealed us out and we're all spread out throughout the museum."

"What about Mr. Freeze and Marjorie Wayne? Have you seen them?"

"Yeah…a group brought them in. Marjorie was unconscious and the ice man was being threatened by their fire thrower."

They were still alive then. They had to be. "How long ago was this?"

"I don't know, half an hour maybe. They were being taken to the Iceberg Longue."

He had heard all he needed to know. "Thanks officer. Stay here. You'll be safer here."

"The name's Jones. Elvis Jones."

* * *

I managed to sneak my way into the dinosaur exhibit. The men in there were armed. I counted three of mine on the bridge. Miller. Michaels. Sanchez. They were kneeling on the ground, their hands on their heads. Like the others I had rescued, they wore dirty orange pants and wife beaters painted with the words DEAD COP.

Ok, now grapple up to the gargoyles and take them out that way…then I noticed that two of them had thermal imaging cameras. I had to take them down and out first before I could take out the others. They were looking up above…that's when I saw the grates in the floor. They wouldn't notice down below…carefully I went beneath the grates and snuck up behind one of them.

Now! I jumped through, covering his mouth and pressing against his occipital ridge. He screamed before going limp. I dragged him into a dark corner and got beneath the grates.

"You blokes might want to check the ground floor. I think Margie has left you a present!" Penguin bragged over the intercom. Damn it! He must have trackers on them too! Whenever I take them down and out, they'll know about it! I had to move quickly…

* * *

Batman came upon the aquarium before the Iceberg Longue. The iced over surface was beginning to melt. This was bad. That ice only meant that Penguin had Freeze's ice gun. There had to be a way to stop him…Freeze would know. Batman calibrated the cowl to look for subzero spots…there! In one of the exhibit rooms. He had to get Freeze out and get him out now. Because if Penguin had his ice gun, he probably also took his suit.

He hurried off.

* * *

Ok, five down…I needed to get the last one. Fortunately, I had taken down both of the ones with thermal imaging cameras so I could attack from above. I crouched low on top of the gargoyle, waiting for the lone guard to come cowering underneath the gargoyle. Come on…come on you prick. Patiently, I waited for him to step into my line of sight. Got him! I fired my grapple gun and pulled him up. He screamed as I tied him by his ankles.

"Oi! You little bitch! I'm going to get you and I'm going to get you good!" I heard Penguin call out as I jumped down.

"Take a number and get in line." I yelled as I hurried over to Miller, Michaels and Sanchez. "You guys decided to have a party and not invite me?" I asked with an innocent smile.

"Some party…thanks Marjorie." Miller smiled at me. "Ok, if you two haven't noticed, Marjorie saved our asses. We guard this room! Nobody we don't know in or out!" He ordered. I noticed Freeze's suit in a nearby case. This wasn't good. He needed the protection of his suit otherwise he'd die.

"Did you see where they took Freeze?" I asked.

"Yes, on the opposite wing of the building. They've got him in a special case, complete with heat lamps."

"Thank you." I said, leaving. I needed to find Victor and fast.

* * *

Batman entered the atrium to loud jeers. There was a loud group of prisoners. He entered the ring, surrounded all over by barbed wire. **BANG! **A gunshot rang out. "Help me…" Looking up, Batman blinked as another member of Precinct 13, Officer Best, limped through the upper entrance. He could only watch as Best was shot again in the back. The brave officer fell down, dead. No…no…

Penguin stepped into the atrium, laughing away. He was holding his trademark gun umbrella on his arm, laughing. "So Batman, you here for the cops? Wayne's bed warmer? The ice man? Or me?"

How dare he call Marjorie that…"I was only here for Freeze and the hostages. But now, I'm taking _you_ down too." Batman grimaced.

"Ooh, aren't you scary!" Penguin mocked.

"You're about to find out…" Batman clenched his fists.

"Am I really?" Penguin allowed a thug to light the cigar in his mouth. "As I was telling Margie earlier, I'm what you might call a collector. If someone wants it, I like to think I got it. And if I don't have it…I'll _get_ it. So here's the thing. Back there, I've got a cabinet that has your name on it, just waiting to be filled. And, as luck would have it, here you are, standing just where I want you. So…what do you think? Are you going to be a good boy and give up nicely?"

"You're not giving orders here anymore Cobblepot…" Batman felt the dizziness begin to slowly subside.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Penguin smirked. "Look around you. This group of terrible psychopaths are all here, begging to join up with me. But unfortunately for them, I only take the best. And today, best is whoever can kill you. Ok, boys! It's initiation time!"

The gates opened and the psychopaths rushed out, screaming. Again, none were armed. This would be easy…

Relying on his other senses, Batman took down the thugs one by one. The jeering subsided…opening his eyes, he say that he had taken all of them down.

"You weren't supposed to beat those odds, Batman!" Penguin yelled before firing at a cage high over Batman's head. Batman rolled out of the way as the cage crashed to the floor. The large hand ripped out of it. He watched in horror as a TITAN infected thug ripped the cage apart like a soda can and threw the remnants at Batman. Again, the Dark Knight dodged out of the way as the torn cage sailed over his head. "Oh, now he looks really mad, Batman! Good luck!" Penguin walked off.

The doors opened, revealing more thugs, some armed with clubs and hammers. This was going to be difficult…

**BANG!** A gun shot rang out. Batman saw Marjorie standing above a grate, holding out her weapons. She must've snuck in from below. Marjorie…she was ok…he couldn't help but smile inside. "Get the TITAN! I'll take care of these punks!" She yelled. "Ok boys…time to dance!"

It took a bit of trial and error but Batman finally worked out a pattern. He'd stun and sucker punch the living day lights out of the hulking brute. Then he'd jump on the stunned monster's back and guide it to an electrified fence. Once it got close enough, Batman would jump off and watch as it was electrocuted. But by the time the thug was down, Marjorie had cleaned up everyone else.

"You ok?" Marjorie asked once the dust had settled. She was sweaty, her jumpsuit torn and bruised. Her hair was falling apart…but she was ok.

"Yeah…and you?" Batman asked, fighting the urge to embrace and kiss her.

"You know I am." She smiled as she took her braid apart and re-braided it, wrapping it around her head. "So what took you?"

"Dizziness." Batman groaned.

"Here." Marjorie took something out of her utility belt and tossed it at him. "Suck on these, it should take care of the vertigo."

"What are they?" Batman looked down and saw the wrapped candies.

"Ginger candies. Worked wonders when I had morning sickness, remember?"

"I remember." He unwrapped one and began sucking on it. It did work. "Have you seen Freeze or the rest of Precinct 13?"

"I haven't seen Victor since we were captured. I've rescued six of my comrades from Precinct 13. Forrester, Whitman and Strickland are outside the Iceberg Longue. Miller, Michaels and Sanchez are in the exhibit room on the other side of the museum. Penguin has Victor's suit in there and he also has his ice gun."

"I noticed. Jones is at the entrance last I saw him. And I'm sorry to say this, but Best is dead. Penguin shot him in front of me."

Marjorie's face twisted in sadness. Another one of her comrades had fallen…he wanted to hug her and tell her everything was going to be ok. "I was wondering if that was a gunshot I heard earlier. I slipped into the grates and came up underneath you." She took a deep breath and wiped her face. "Ok, so that's six, no, seven rescued between the two of us. One dead. Altogether, eight accounted for. That means there's two more…"

"They're probably in the Longue. I'll grab Freeze's suit and get it to him. You find the others and get them into the exhibit room. They'll be safer there." Batman said before leaving.

* * *

I did as Batman said and got the four officers into the exhibit room. The suit was gone. "Batman came and got it." Miller explained when I asked him. I needed to get back to Batman and Victor. I had to make sure my friend was ok.

As I was leaving, I had the strange feeling I was being watched again. This time, I saw the familiar blue cloak and fedora standing before me. "Hello Marjorie." He said, almost smiling.

"Damn you're fast." I said, sitting down as my legs were killing me. "God…how does Batman do it?" I asked.

"Years of experience. That and he's not carrying a baby. Still impressive." He sat down next to me.

"I was asking a rhetorical question." I fought the urge to snap. Wordlessly, the Phantom Stranger began rubbing my shoulders. That felt so good…just like when Sam did it after a long day at the gym…was this really Sam? His angel? If not, then why was he so much like him? "Do you know my brother, Sam?" I asked when he finished.

"I met him once." The Phantom Stranger seemed almost sad. "He spoke so fondly of you the one time I did know him. I suppose that's why I came."

I nodded as Sammie kicked me again. "You're being a good little baby for staying put. It's not much longer, honey. I promise." I whispered as I rubbed my belly.

The Phantom Stranger chuckled, the laugh reminded me of Sam, but in a pleasant way. "You'll make a wonderful mother. Just as Bruce will make a good father." He gently patted the belly and got up.

Then I thought of something. "Stranger?" He stopped. This was something I had always wanted to ask Sam if I had a chance. "Do you think…Sam would forgive me about the night he died?"

He looked over his shoulder. I thought I could see a touched look on his face. "He forgave you a long time ago. It wasn't your fault Marjorie."

A huge weight fell off my shoulders. "Thank you…Sam…" I said, feeling sad. The Phantom Stranger vanished as I blinked. Snap out of it, Marjorie. I thought as I rubbed the tears away. You're don't doing Sam or Best any good if you start crying. You need to focus. Help Batman stop Penguin and Strange.

The Iceberg Longue. Batman would no doubt be heading that way.

* * *

Freeze stumbled out of his sweltering exhibit as Batman released him. He looked at Batman pitifully. "Give me my suit back…" Freeze reached out

"Penguin is protecting himself with your ice gun. How do I get past it?"

"Now…why would I tell you that?" Freeze crawled away, escaping into the cool darkness.

"Because if I can't stop him, then I can't save Marjorie."

Freeze nodded. "All right, there's a security override I built into my suit to keep others from using my suit against me. It didn't work…they threatened to kill Marjorie if I tried stopping them. Cobblepot stripped me bare and threw me in here. One more thing. Bring Cobblepot here. He will pay for what he planned to do to Marjorie and had done to me."

Batman took the security override chip out of Freeze's suit and passed the suit to him. "I'll take care of Cobblepot."

Freeze called out to him as he was walking away. "Batman, there's one more thing about Marjorie. You have to find her fast."

"After I stop Freeze."

"No, you don't understand." He said as he began taking the suit apart to get into it. "She's very far long in labor and very close to giving birth."

* * *

I was reloading my ammunition from the army locker in the aquarium when Batman came over using the Batclaw and raft. "Marjorie. Why didn't you tell me you were in labor?" His face was calm. This wasn't good.

How'd he find out…? Victor…he must've told Batman when he got his suit to him. "I was when you woke up. Penguin and his goons had other plans."

"Why aren't you at the Medical Facility? It's safer there." Batman argued.

"That's the other thing." I sighed. "Long story short, Strange had my labor induced when he arrested us. He also had something injected into me that sped up my contractions. I didn't learn what had happened until after I rescued everyone from the Riddler. Batman…" I gripped his forearms, getting scared. "…Strange is after Sammie. I knew Freeze would keep me safe and I couldn't risk everyone's safety at the Medical Center."

Batman didn't look shocked. I thought I saw a look of disgust flirt across his face but he shook it off. "You're getting out of here now. No questions asked. I've already called Robin and the Batwing already. They're going to take you out and get you and Sam somewhere safe."

No…I stopped him. "Strange will go after us no matter what we do or where we hide. Besides, I'm not leaving until you get my husband out. When Bruce leaves, that's when I leave too. Never leave your partner behind." I said.

I did this not just for the benefit of anyone else who might be listening in, but for Bruce. We went in together and he knew I wasn't going to leave until he was done here as Batman. He nodded, touching his ear piece. "Alfred, call off Robin and the Batwing. Marjorie is staying with me."

"Thank you." I said to Batman as we got on the raft and prepared to go across the raft. I was ready for it this time…but the shark popped up. Batman jumped back but returned to punch the crap out of that shark's snout. "Thanks…that thing scared the living crap out of me. Ask Forrester about my reaction sometime."

"I'll keep that in mind." Batman mumbled.

* * *

Batman made sure Marjorie stayed behind while he took care of Penguin and the ice gun. "I have the security override. I'll take care of Cobblepot. You come in after I'm finished and get the last two cops out." He argued before he stepped into the Iceberg Longue.

"Come in Batman!" There was a buzzing noise as Penguin fired the weapon at Batman. He dodged out of the way. "Hold still!" Penguin called out. Now he needed to get close enough to stop the ice gun. "Come on! I can do this all night long!" Batman kept jumping and running, managing to get onto the walkway. Holding the override behind his back, he activated it and walked closer. Penguin had the last two cops; Southwold and Denning kneeling at his feet. "Say goodnight, Batman!" Penguin began to fire. But the override was working. "No! No! What's wrong with this bloody thing?!"

Batman punched Cobblepot clear off the walkway. He fell down the ice tower onto the floor below. "You're finished Cobblepot!" Batman yelled.

"I'm sorry! Please! Don't hurt me!" Penguin backed up into a corner.

"I can't guarantee that." Batman glared down at him.

But Penguin only began laughing as he took a detonator out. "Me neither."

"Batman! Look out!" Marjorie yelled as she grabbed the two cops and pushed them down the catwalk. But it was too late. **BOOM!** There was a loud explosion as the ice tower fell apart. Batman and Marjorie went falling down. Batman fell through the floor of the Iceberg Longue. He didn't see Marjorie anywhere. She must've fallen away and was still on the upper floor. Something was wrong…he saw a giant figure chained to an electric conductor.

This _wasn't_ good. "I tried to help you, Batman. I gave you the opportunity to end all this and just walk away but _oh no_. _You_ had to be the big man! Well, guess what? From up here, you look pretty small." Penguin took out a switch and pressed it. There was a sizzling noise as the conductor warmed up. "Aw, now don't look so sad, I've got a little surprise for you down there." The chained figure lurched and was brought to life. It was a huge man, the skin white as a ghost. Raggedly clothes hung on his muscular frame.

"Solomon Grundy." It chanted, marching forward. "Born on a Monday! Christened on Tuesday! Married on Wednesday!" He tried punching Batman but his fist stopped short.

"I found him down here when I bought this place. Comes in handy!" Penguin gloated.

Grundy, or whatever that thing was, pulled hard and yanked the shackles from the wall. Here we go. Batman took a deep breath. Good thing he took those candies earlier. She was right, they were helping.

* * *

I had slipped down the ice tower as Penguin exploded and was off to the side. My head spun and my ears rang. Ugh…I needed to stop Penguin. Fortunately, he was busy watching whatever creature he had down there fighting Batman. I took out my Beretta and snuck up behind Cobblepot. I had to get that switch out of his hands…fire away.

**BANG!** I fired away at his hand. It made contact, sending the switch flying.

"Oi!" Penguin swung around and saw me. "Damn you, Wilde…!" he drew his umbrella gun with his free hand and began to fire.

"Hey, just be glad it wasn't your balls!" I yelled as I dodged one of the missiles he sent my way. "To be honest, I don't think you have any!" Another dodge.

"Hold still, you bitch!" Penguin yelled. I just kept ducking until he had run out of ammo. There we go. "What the hell is wrong with this thing?!" Now! Get him Marjorie! I began punching the living daylights out of him.

I twisted his bleeding hand behind his back. He screamed in pain. "That was for what you did to Victor!" I kicked him in the knees. "That was for Best and Precinct 13!" Putting my foot on his throat, I held him down. "And this was for threatening to rape me…" I sucker punched him.

There was a loud roar from the pit and then a long silence. "Marjorie? You ok up there?" Batman called out.

"Yeah, I'm ok." I smiled down at my trophy. "Just had some one on one time with Penguin."

* * *

Batman checked on the other two guards once he escaped the pit Solomon Grundy had been in. Denning was lucky and had gotten away. Southwold on the other hand had been killed. After a moment of silence for her fallen comrade, Marjorie turned to Batman. "So what are we going to do with Cobblepot?"

"I'll deal with him." Freeze said as he stepped into the room.

"Well, look who it is…Mr. Fr…" Penguin mockingly called out as Freeze stepped on his hand. He screamed in pain.

"Enough…" Batman said. He thought he saw a smile cross Marjorie's face when she saw Penguin being hurt. It was understandable why she would look that way. He shivered as he reminded himself. After all, he did kill two of her fellow cops…but this was going too far… "Freeze! That's enough!" Batman yelled.

"Of course." Freeze said with an icy smile. He picked up Cobblepot by the collar. Penguin looked at him, the first time all night he saw the man truly afraid. It was satisfying… "You will pay for what you've done, Mr. Cobblepot." Freeze hissed.

At that moment, Batman's earpiece came on. "Hey Batman, are you busy?" It was Oracle.

"No, Oracle, I'm ok. What's going on?" He asked, waving Marjorie over.

"I think I know what Protocol Ten is."

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah, sorry guys, I know I really cheated with the Solomon Grundy fight but I really wanted to get this chapter done (and I'll be honest, I had written more fight scenes for this one chapter than I usually do, in one day, I broke my record and got over 5,000 words in one day, so I was all fight-scened out). If you want me to write the battle scene between Grundy and Batman, let me know and I'll work out something.

You know the drill. Ten more reviews. So at least seventy before the next chapter. And the usual; at least one thing you liked and at least one suggestion for fixing or further chapters.

As today is the last day of 2012, I want to wish a Happy New Year to everyone!


	8. Abandon All Hope

**A/N:** Hello guys! We're heading up the grand finale!

Shadow Knight, you do have a point, Marjorie is being an idiot and believe me, this decision will come back to haunt her, but she reasoned that if Strange knows who Batman is, he also knows where Batman's base of operations is (Wayne Manor). Strange is capable of anything and won't stop to get what he wants. He has men and firepower (military grade, if I may add) so the Batcave would be no safer than Arkham City. Or rather that's her line of thought, I don't know if that makes any sense.

And yes, Stone Cold 22. Only Batman has the balls to punch a shark head on.

* * *

Abandon all Hope

"So what is Protocol Ten, Oracle?" Marjorie asked over her earpiece.

"Strange just called Dad and other high ranking city officials into City Hall for an emergency meeting. He claimed that the situation in Arkham City had gotten out of control and called for drastic measures. He's warning that the only way to control the population of Arkham City is to purge all the law-breakers."

Purge all the lawbreakers…Batman realized Strange's plan and it made him sick. "Genocide. That's his plan. He gathered up all the lawbreakers here and will kill them all."

"How?" Oracle asked. "I know that bastard is capable of anything…"

Marjorie tugged Batman's gauntlet. "Batman, some of the guys and I found a TYGER foot locker earlier. It was jam-packed full of military grade firearms and ammunition. Knowing Strange, he might have been supplying the inmates with those firearms and thus ensuring the turf war."

"Protocol Ten will commence in one hour." Strange's eerie voice rang through the earpieces. Knowing what he had in store for them only made Batman's blood turn to ice.

They had to act. They had to act now… "So what are we going to do?" Marjorie asked.

A plan formulated. They had to save as many people as they could. There were many political prisoners trapped inside Arkham City, their only crime having been crossing Strange and Sharp. "Tell Miller and the others to hole up underground as soon as possible. Make sure Freeze and Nora are in a safe place. If you find any political prisoners, help them get to the Medical Center. Then you get there yourself and have them activate the blast doors and get underground. Oracle, try to hack into TYGER remotely."

"What about you?" Marjorie asked.

"I'm going to help as many political prisoners as I can, then I'm going to stop Strange."

"Batman, Victor gave these to me. They're freeze grenades. They're freeze anything once broken, so be careful." Marjorie gave a few capsules to him. "And be careful." She warned.

"I have to be now, don't I?" Batman allowed a smile before leaving.

* * *

Time to get to work. I found Miller and the others. "Hey guys, you need to get underground and hole up."

"Why?" Miller asked.

"Strange plans to firebomb Arkham City to kingdom come in about an hour. Find all the firepower and other military grade equipment you can and put them somewhere safe. If they don't blow up, something tells me all the inmates will be in faster than an overturned anthill. They'll want weapons. That wouldn't be good."

"Good point, hey guys! Get ready!" As Miller issued orders, I got ready to leave. "Hey, Marjorie! You're not staying with us?"

"Batman sent me on an errand. But I'll be ok. Don't worry. We'll get together after all of this, swap war stories over dinner. How does that sound?"

"Awesome. You be careful…"Miller smiled. "And Marjorie? Sam would be so proud of you if he could see you now."

I felt proud. I smiled back. "I know he would be." I whispered. "Good luck."

That taken care of, I ran to find Victor. He was definitely going back to Nora's side. I could smell the fear in the air. Knowing what Strange had planned made my insides tangle into a knot. Sammie kicked when I got to Warehouse 5B in the Falcone Shipping Yards, it was gentle, almost understanding.

"Thank you, sweet-pea. Mommy isn't going to let that bastard Strange touch you." I rubbed my belly as Sammie kicked it again. "That's a promise."

"Having some one on one time with the baby, Marjorie?" I heard Catwoman's familiar voice as she landed beside me.

Groaning, I looked Catwoman over. "What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into Catwoman? You look like you got dumped headfirst into a field of flowers."

"Yeah, well…had a little…misunderstanding…with Ivy." Catwoman brushed off the pollen as best she could. "I think I lost one of my nine lives in the process."

"Knowing you, you probably deserved it." I snapped, irritated. God, I disliked that woman…

"No I didn't! Ok…well, I did forget to water her plants…but it was an accident!" Catwoman tried defending herself.

"Sure…and I bet you let your cats use the flowers as an impromptu litter box. What are you doing here, Selina?"

"A little birdie told me that Mr. Freeze was here. I wanted to ask him if he wanted to help me in my latest scheme."

"Fat chance of that happening." I barked a laugh.

"I will use my feminine charms…no man can resist me…well except Batman. He's got to be taken. He has to be."

Oh, you have no _idea_ who you're talking to… "Twenty bucks Freeze will tell you to buzz off."

"You're on." Catwoman cooed.

I opened the door and we stepped inside. Victor stood next to Nora's capsule; I could just make out the frozen figure floating inside. "My beautiful wife, I'm so sorry that all of this happened." He stroked the ice.

Catwoman smiled. "Aw…that's so sweet. I guess Batman found your wife after all."

"Marjorie did, actually. My beautiful Nora is now safe." Victor said, not taking his eyes off of Nora.

"So…is now a good time to ask you about a plan I had to steal the Pharaoh's Diamond from the Egyptian Museum? It's really hot there and…well…all this latex makes a girl sweat…" Catwoman cooed.

I grinned at Victor's response. "Leave me with my wife, Catwoman." I held out my hand to her, flexing my fingers.

"Just asking, Freeze. Just asking." Catwoman said as she plunked the twenty into my hand. She glowered at me through half-slit eyes.

"Told you." I said to Catwoman as she was slinking away.

"What are you doing here, Marjorie?" Freeze asked, finally looking at me.

"I'm here to warn you. Strange is planning on firebombing Arkham City to smithereens. You need to get yourself and Nora underground right away. You need help?" I asked.

"No, I know an underground bunker and will be able to move her down there. You get yourself to the Medical Center and quickly. The baby won't wait. Thank you, Marjorie and be careful."

"Thank you Victor…and stop the life of crime. You're a good man and deserve better."

Victor smiled; I swear I saw a light in his eyes. "You'll make a good mother."

I hurried out…and back into Catwoman's path. She didn't look amused. I held out the twenty she had given me as a peace offering. "Look, you're in danger, hole up somewhere safe, preferably underground. We're all going to get blown to kingdom come by Strange." I warned. "And no, I wouldn't joke about something like this."

"I know you wouldn't and thanks." Catwoman glowered as she took the twenty. I watched her leave before I ran back over the rooftops to the Medical Facility.

"Hey, I'm back!" I smiled. "Sorry about that, Penguin dropped in and insisted I join him for teatime." I said sarcastically. "And it was fun…when I kicked his nuts around.

"Don't make jokes about teatime!" Ryder groaned. "Or clowns for that matter…"

That's when I noticed the grim atmosphere. Everyone was pacing around, scared. Oh no… "What happened?" I asked.

* * *

Batman heard somebody crying out for help. It was a political prisoner surrounded by thugs, the fourth he found. Dive-bombing into them, Batman scattered the group and began kicking and pounding the daylights out of the group. He found the political prisoner huddled on the ground when it was over. "If you can, head over to the church, get there. If not, find somewhere underground and stay there, it'll be safer." Batman told him.

"Thank you Batman…bless you…" he said, getting up and running away.

"Batman, are you there?" Marjorie's voice came over his earpiece.

"What's wrong?" Batman asked as he jumped to higher ground.

"Bad news at the Medical Center, Vicki Vale was kidnapped by the Mad Hatter and Dr. Stephanie Baker was taken by Harley Quinn. Where are you now?" Marjorie asked.

Batman looked up and saw the Sionis Steel Mill not too far away. "I'll get Baker. You get Vale and be careful. Don't drink any of Hatter's tea or allow him to use any of his mind control devices on you."

"No problem." Marjorie laughed. "I've been on an ass-kicking spree lately and Tetch deserves one if he tries something dumb."

"Be careful." Batman warned. "And get yourself underground."

* * *

It wasn't too hard to find Jervis Tetch's hiding place. After all, there was only one building in Arkham City that was decorated to look like a Victorian style hat shop and tea supply store. Best of all, it was only a few blocks away from the Medical Center…I carefully opened the door.

The room was decorated like my grandmother's stuffy parlor that I visited when I was a kid. But the air was filled with smoke. Off in the corner, I saw a statue of the Caterpillar smoking a hookah. It blew out smoke in rings. I sneezed and my head began to pound and throb. Goons wearing rabbit masks sat around the table, appearing dazed and not touching any of the goodies and tea on the table. Hatter stood at the end of the table, his back to me. A tall green hat sat on his head; he was wrapped in a long matching overcoat, looking like a rat. In his hand was a very large pocket watch.

"Drink your tea, Alice, dear…" Hatter's soothing and yet creepy voice filled the room. "It's my special tea…my special tea…my specialty." He childishly giggled at the word he had managed to conjure up.

"No, stop it; Jervis…you bastard…go to hell…" Vicki mumbled from behind the Hatter. I managed to catch a sight of her…Jervis had dressed her up look like Alice, complete with a pinafore and a large black headband. She was tied up in a chair, Hatter holding a tea cup up to her face. Oh God…

"Who's Jervis?' The Hatter asked childishly. "I'm your friend the Hatter. Oh why don't you have some tea with me, please? After teatime, then we can play." He whined.

Enough was enough. Fighting the dizziness that was beginning to swamp me, I fired a round into the air. The Hatter jumped, turning around and mumbling in fear. I knew he wouldn't listen to me if I didn't use references to Alice in Wonderland. "Hatter! Let Alice go or I'll blow that hat off your head!"

"Oh Marjorie, you really had to spoil everything now, didn't you?!" Tetch yelled at me. Marjorie?! Did he have any idea what was going on?! Usually he addressed me as the White Knight during his stay at Arkham. Don't stop to think! Stop him before he hurts Vicki! "Get her, White Rabbits!" Tetch ordered. "Just don't hurt her! Strange promised me a brand new hat!"

The goons jumped to their feet and began fighting me. My muscles and nerves felt like they were pulled around and poked by a red hot wire and my mind felt fuzzy, almost hazy. But they were stronger…Tetch must've done something to them to make them stronger. I can't fight back much longer…I felt like I was falling asleep. The pocket watch's ticking was defending and I felt it rumbling throughout my body. Or was that the baby kicking? I didn't know anymore…

No! Fight back! Otherwise, Strange will win! Everyone… even that damned Caterpillar statue…looked like they were smirking at me…the Caterpillar! It was belching out hypnotic smoke. I had to destroy it. Pulling what little free will I had left, I aimed my Smith and Wesson at the statue. **BANG!** The Caterpillar shattered into pieces, the smoke stopped. Immediately I felt my head clear.

"No! No! My lovely, lovely Caterpillar! How could you do that?!" Tetch whined. The hat! Destroy the hat! I shot that off his head. The hat flew off, sparking. "My hat…my beautiful, beautiful hat!" The goons, finally having lost their will and exhausted, collapsed into a heap.

I cut Vicki free. She looked a little dazed, but was otherwise unharmed. "Vicki! Run back to the Medical Center! Hurry! I'll catch up!" Vicki wasted no time and ran for it. Jervis yelped as I picked him up by his collar. Normally, I felt sorry for Tetch. A bright and childlike mind troubled by mental illness. But after today… "Don't ever try getting into my head again, Jervis Tetch…" I growled.

"Strange, where is my hat?! I've got the White Knight!"

White Queen…it was a trap… **HISS!** There was a hissing and something pierced my neck. I screamed as something was injected into me. Letting Tetch go, I collapsed. Like before, my muscles felt like rubber and my eyelids were getting heavy. Panting, I reached out.

Why oh why didn't I leave Arkham City when I had the chance?!

"Very good, Jervis…here's your pretty new hat." Strange was appearing before me, a gun in his hand. I'm dead…I'm so sorry Sammie. He aimed over my head.

"What, what are you doing?!" Tetch cried out. "No!" **BANG!** Strange fired a single shot. There was a loud thump as something fell. Hatter cried out no more. Did that bastard shoot him…? I don't think I want to know…

"Hello Marjorie." Strange leered at me as I passed out. Batman…Bruce…I want you here…

* * *

Joker had upped the ante at the Steel Mill. Batman couldn't go through the chimney as he did before and the patrols outside the factory had been doubled. But he was now inside and watching beneath the floor grates. "No! Please!" Dr. Baker cried out as Quinn pulled her by her braids across the factory floor.

"No dice, doc!" Quinn dropped the quivering doctor. "You refused to save Mr. J…so that means you die too…"

"No! He's too far gone!" Baker cried.

"Don't try pressing a pregnant woman's buttons, Baker!" What?! Batman felt himself fall over. She's pregnant?! "Now when my little baby asks me why their Daddy isn't here, I'll just say that it's because a doctor was too useless to save him!" Quinn held up her revolver.

"Oh no! Please!" Baker sobbed. Enough was enough…Batman jumped up through the grates and took down Quinn. She wriggled and tried to get loose, but Batman held her down. "Oh thank God!" Baker cried.

"Baker, run! Get somewhere safe!" Batman ordered. Baker got up and ran for it. By this time, Quinn had gotten free and began kicking and punching. Batman took her down without much trouble. "Listen…if you want you and your baby to live, you'll do exactly as I say." Batman growled.

"Why should I listen to _you_, Batbrain?!" Quinn argued, hissing.

"Because Strange plans on killing all of you!" Quinn paused, her eyes wide.

Just then, Strange's voice came over the intercom. "Protocol Ten commences now."

"Understood, sir." A TYGER guard responded in Batman's earpiece. "Begin firing."

**BANG!** The building began to shake and rattle. Batman grabbed Quinn's shoulders. "Get somewhere underground and get there now!"

"But Mr. J…" Quinn whined.

"NOW!" Batman yelled. "Unless you want to tell him you lost the baby trying to save him!" Quinn, shivering, ran. "Dr. Baker!"

**BOOM!** The wall next to him began to collapse. Batman was blown backwards. A large slab of concrete fell onto him, pinning him from the neck down. He looked out and saw the TYGER guard aiming his high powered rifle into his face; the helicopter was right behind him.

"Sir! We've got the Batman! He's trapped under the masonry of the Sionis Steel Mill!" The guard touched his ear, where he no doubt he had an earpiece.

"Is he dead?" Strange hissed over Batman's earpiece.

"No sir…but he appears stunned."

"Excellent. Bring him to me alive. Make sure he can't escape. I already have Mrs. Wayne." Strange responded.

He has Marjorie?! No! No! Batman struggled to get to his feet, but the slab was too heavy. It was a miracle he wasn't killed.

"Understood sir…" The guard fired something into his neck. Batman looked down and saw a tranquilizer dart sticking out.

Marjorie…hold on…I'm coming…Batman thought as he passed out.

* * *

Batman grunting beside me was the first thing I remember hearing along with explosions and people screaming. I slowly came to, feeling hot and cold all over. I was lying on an incline; it felt like a flat board, my hands tied behind that. My jumpsuit had been taken off of me and I was wearing something soft. It looked like a purple dress hemmed with white…that had been hiked up to reveal the lower-half of my body. My ankles and calves had been tied together.

What happened?

Where am I?

I looked over and saw Batman lying beside me, chained to a dumpster. He was groaning and slowly regaining consciousness. "Batman? Batman! Wake up!" I cried out. A lone street light shone down upon us. Flurries flew into my face. I saw two familiar chalk outlines before us, surrounded by flowers.

"Strange got you too, Marjorie…?" he groggily asked me. "Where are we?"

We were in Crime Alley…where Bruce's parents had been gunned down in front of him when he was eight…I was wearing a copy of the dress Martha Wayne wore to the Monarch Theater that night, right down to the pearls. "Crime Alley. But why did Strange bring us here?"

Footsteps sounded behind me. "How does it feel, Wayne? To kneel on the very stones that ran with your parents' blood and will soon run with your wife's?" I watched as Strange walked up to Batman. "Do you feel sad? Full of rage? Or does that outfit help bury your feelings? Hiding your true self?" Batman was now fully conscious and began struggling to get free. Strange pulled Batman's cowl off his head, revealing his bruised and battered face. "Oh…you are a truly extraordinary specimen. I look forward to breaking you." Hugo Strange knelt before my legs, smiling.

* * *

**A/N:** Here we go…we're here at the grand finale. I know you guys wanted to see Marjorie take down Zsaz and Quinn (and I wanted to too) but decided to be fair to poor Marjorie. Come on, I know I was pressing it with how much Marjorie was able to do while she was in labor. She might be Batman's wife and a trained fighter but she's not Wonder Woman.

I'm afraid I overdid Marjorie's second interaction with Catwoman and Strange though…

The usual. So how about at least at least 10 or 81. At least one thing you liked and at least something for fixing…and one more thing.

I would like to do a sequel, that is if people want one. So if you want a sequel, tell me what you want to see in it.


	9. It Will End Where It Began

**A/N: **Hey guys! We're going to find out what happens with Strange and Joker in this chapter!

And CGA328, you did read that right, originally, I had Hatter call Marjorie the White Queen. However, I rechecked the story _Through the Looking Glass_ (to be honest, I could never stand Lewis Carroll; his writings gave me a headache) and I realized that the White Queen was the wrong character for Marjorie to be nicknamed after. She's very slovenly and not very bright in the book. And you're right, I've always pictured Marjorie to be a bit more sympathetic to Tetch (except when he's causing trouble, obviously) because she knows that he's suffering from a mental illness. So I changed her nickname to the White Knight, who was nice and helped out Alice during her adventures.

And everyone does have to admit that Strange would've probably killed Hatter if he had the chance. To be honest, I'm not sure he lives…maybe that could be explored in the sequel as to what really happened to him…

* * *

It Will End Where It Began

"Sir, we have her here." A guard called out.

"Excellent, bring her over." Strange smiled. Bruce watched as a familiar small woman was dragged before Marjorie. "Leave us." Strange ordered the guard before turning to the woman. "Good morning, Dr. Tomkins. Thank you for coming on such short notice."

"More like arrested in the middle of the night and held in that disgusting hellhole you call an office. Marjorie! Bruce! Are you hurt?!"

"No, we're fine…except for the part about being held hostage by a megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur." Marjorie hissed. "Sorry, it just hurts."

"You're…you're in labor?!" Leslie looked ashen. "What…what are we doing here?!"

"Of course she is. I've got your equipment right here. You are her primary care physician, aren't you?" Strange held up a gym bag and threw at Leslie's feet. "It's quite simple, Dr. Tompkins." Strange grinned at Leslie. "Batman was born here. And here he will die. His failure will be a monument to me, the capstone being his child. I will raise him to be a faithful and obedient son, knowing only me and my greatness. And there's nothing Batman can do to stop it."

Bruce felt sick to his stomach as he realized what Strange was saying. "You're mad!" Leslie growled in a low voice.

"Only your opinion, Dr. Tompkins. But would a madman think as far ahead and thoroughly as I have?" Strange held out his hands between Marjorie's legs.

"Since I don't want my heir to grow up without a mother…" Strange stroked Marjorie's bare thighs. "…I promise you that I'll be better than Batman in every way." Bruce felt his rage growing inside. As soon as he got free…his hand managed to reach the pouch on his gauntlet where he had hidden the wire he used to pick handcuff locks. If he could reach it…

Marjorie spat into Strange's face. He didn't react. "You're sick, Strange…" She hissed. "You will _never_ be a better man than Bruce." She began tugging and pulling at the ropes that held her down. "And I will _never_ let you touch my Sammie."

Bruce got the wire free and into the lock of his handcuffs. Now to get out of there…

"It's useless, Mrs. Wayne." Strange bragged. "You cannot escape. There's nowhere you or your husband can run. Nowhere either of you can hide. I know he tried to get you to leave. Not that it would've stopped me. I was prepared to have the Batplane shot down if it entered the facility or have Wayne Manor stormed and burnt to the ground if you did manage to flee. This child will be part of _my_ legacy and there's nothing you can do to stop me. The child of Batman will not know you…for the only time he'll see you will also be the last thing you see. Because I will bleed all three of you out here in Crime Alley…the same place where Batman's parents also bled out…"

"Mark my words. We _will_ stop you Strange. One way or another." Marjorie shot Batman a quick glance. She knew he was trying to escape and was trying to distract Strange.

Strange chuckled, the sound was unnerving. "Loyal to the end, aren't you? But what good has it done for you? I'm now triumphant. It will end where it began."

_Click_. The handcuffs were now unlocked. Bruce chose that moment to strike. "For once, Strange, I actually agree with you on something…" He lunged after Strange.

* * *

Bruce knocked Strange to the ground and began to beat him. Leslie took the distraction to untie me. "Come on, we're getting out of here!" Leslie grabbed me.

"No." I looked at Leslie; I wasn't going to leave my husband behind. Then I saw something shiny in Strange's hand. Was it…it was! "Look out! He's got a knife!" But my warning had come too late. I winced as Bruce cried out. Strange had surprised him, stabbing him in the shoulder with the knife. It had given Strange the leverage he needed to pin Batman to the ground, right on the chalk outlines of his parents.

"Look at you! You are weak!" Strange had taken a cord out of his pocket. "Everything tonight was to bring you here to the brink of exhaustion!" Bruce was running out of strength. He wrapped it around Bruce's throat and was strangling him. I had to do something, I thought as I got up. "I have thought of everything!"

"Everything but one Strange…" Bruce coughed, looking at me

"And what it that?" Strange smiled, thinking he had won.

"_Never_ try to kill a husband in front of his wife!" Pulling together the last bit of strength I had, I jumped up and kicked Strange in the neck. He fell off and slammed headfirst into the lamppost. **CRACK!** There was a sickening sound as a bone cracked. Strange slumped down, blood pouring out from the large gash on his head.

But he didn't move.

He didn't even speak.

"Is he…?" I panted, looking upon Strange's still body. I know I aimed it just right and I kicked him with all I had. Bruce didn't look up., still checking to see if the bastard still had a pulse. He didn't respond. Oh my God…did I really just…? But I didn't have much time to continue that train of thought. My pain reached a new level. I screamed and fell down.

"Marjorie!" Bruce cradled me and held me up. Leslie, having grabbed her bag in the scuffle, helped me push up my knees. She opened it out and took out a blanket.

"The baby's crowning now." Leslie said to me as she calmly prepared the blanket. "I need you to take a deep breath and push down as hard as you can."

* * *

Marjorie took a deep breath and grimaced. Bruce allowed her to grip his hand. She gave a sharp cry and squeezed his hand like a vise.

The mewling cries of a baby filled the crisp and cold air. Marjorie gasped. Bruce looked up to see Leslie rubbing a tiny baby dry.

"It's a little girl." Leslie looked at Bruce. "Do you want to cut the cord?" Numb, high on emotion, Bruce cut the umbilical cord, wincing as he did so. "Don't worry, it doesn't hurt her."

"I know that but…" Bruce looked down at the baby. Tiny and wrinkly. Ten perfectly formed fingers clenched into a fist. Ten perfectly formed toes kicking. Marjorie's nose and big brown eyes. Bruce's thick black hair.

"Can I see her?" Marjorie asked, holding out her arms. Leslie put the wrapped up baby in Marjorie's arms. "Hey. Hey, sweetie." Marjorie pushed the downy hair out of Sammie's face. The baby cooed, holding up her hands. Bruce couldn't help but smile as his wife kissed their daughter on the forehead.

A family. He had a family again. He kissed Marjorie.

Leslie held up her hand, looking around. "Listen, do you hear that?"

Bruce looked up…there was silence…he got what Leslie was implying.

"I did it…" Oracle said over the earpiece. "Took a hell out of a lot of me…but I did it…"

"It's over…we've won." Marjorie smiled as Bruce picked up his cowl and put it back on.

* * *

No nonsense Leslie wanted to get Sammie and me to the Medical Center as quickly as possible. Batman carried me while Leslie carried Sammie.

The scene outside looked like something out of old newsreels out of post war Europe. Rubble was everywhere. Stunned survivors and wounded were crawling out. The gates of Arkham City were opening and finally the police and emergency services were coming in. A wintery predawn gray was settling over the ruins, completing the scene of devastation.

"Batman! Over here!" I heard Commissioner Gordon yell. Batman turned to face Gordon. I couldn't help but smile and laugh in relief, happy to see him again. "Marjorie! Are you ok?"

"She's fine." Leslie said, coming up behind Batman. "But she just bore her baby a little less than half an hour ago. I want to get her to the nearest hospital as soon as possible."

"No! Wayne Manor!" I said. "They're going to need every empty hospital bed they can get!"

Within seconds, a stretcher had been brought over. Batman reluctantly put me onto it. Leslie put Sammie into my arms. I protectively wrapped my arms around her. Nobody was going to take her away from me. Batman and Leslie walked me to the ambulance. "Don't worry; she'll be in excellent hands…" Leslie soothed Batman as I was loaded in.

"Just find my husband and bring him back to me in one piece." I said to Batman as Leslie got in behind me. Batman only gave a curt nod.

"HELLOOO! Anybody there?!" Joker yelled out over the prison wide intercom. Oh no…

"Be careful!" I yelled out as the doors were closed and we began driving away.

"Don't worry," Leslie comforted me by squeezing my shoulder. "He'll be ok."

"He better be." I mumbled as I looked down at Sammie. She had fallen asleep against my chest, sleeping peacefully. "Otherwise I'll march right back into Arkham City, find him and do what others have failed to do. Yes, I'm going to kick the Batman's butt."

* * *

Batman watched the nearby giant screen as Joker's sore encrusted face smiled over the screen. "Hey there, Batman! I know you're watching me! And I've got a little surprise for you and all the lovely folks of Gotham! Thanks to my pal, Hugo Strange, I've got some high powered explosives! And while you had the Boy Blunder running around finding my nonexistent blood samples, I've had my men plant them all over Arkham City! In one hour, they'll blow sky-high…and you'll see the lovely smiley face from space! That is…unless you take me on. Mano e mano in a fight to the death at the Ace Chemical Plant! If you can beat me…then I won't blow us sky high. If not…well then Gotham can have a lovely smiley face carter to put on top of postcards!"

Batman heard Gordon walk up to him. "Evacuate Arkham City."

"And you aren't seriously going to take him on?" Gordon asked.

"It will end where it began." Batman said as he took out his grapple gun.

* * *

Sure enough, Joker was waiting for him inside the heady smelling and hot chemical plant. Below the catwalk, he saw the greenish goo bubbling and churning. Coughing, he smiled at Batman. "Here we are! You don't remember the man with the fish bowl on his head? The one that fell into the vat of chemical waste? Well I do! And we're going to finish this!"

For a man who was supposedly dying, Joker was surprisingly agile and powerful. He was evading him. Batman grew suspicious and threw a freeze grenade at him. He froze, the clothing turned into mud…Clayface! The Joker morphed into the humanoid rock figure.

"You weren't supposed to be in here, Hagan! Why side with Joker now?" Batman asked as he threw more freeze grenades at him.

"Easy! The role of a lifetime!" Clayface growled as he absorbed the freezing chemicals. But he was slowing down. Soon he stopped moving. The capsules were doing their job…now to make sure he was down. Batman sprayed the remaining explosive gel he had on hand on the muddy pile before pressing the detonator.

**BANG!** The resulting explosion threw Batman to his feet. He watched as the mud began oozing down into the chemical vat below.

"Well, that was unexpected, wasn't it?!" Joker stepped out of the control booth, coughing and holding his stomach. Quinn was right behind him. "Ah well, say good night Bats!" he took a switch out. Thinking fast, Batman threw a Batarang at it. It flew from Joker's hands, clattering far away.

**BOOM!** There was a loud explosion below Batman's feet. Some of the sludge from the Clayface fight had entered the tank. A chemical reaction had caused a massive explosion. The resulting sound wave shook the wrought iron catwalk. Quinn screamed as the bolts beneath her and Joker gave way and they fell.

No! Batman lunged after them, grabbing Quinn with one hand and Joker in the other. They dangled over the chemical vat below. But they were too heavy for Batman to pull up. He'd have to decide who to save before all three of them were sent into the vat below.

Now came the decision he didn't want to make. Who to save?

Joker touched Quinn's abdomen and looked at her. "Pooh, make our little pride and joy laugh for me. Here's to hoping the little bundle has your smile." He looked up at Batman. "See, Bats! You can't always win!"

Laughing, Joker let go and began to fall.

"NO!" Quinn screamed as the still laughing Joker fell into the vat below. **SPLASH!** Batman could only watch as Joker disappeared into the liquid. "Pudding! Pudding!" She wriggled, trying to get free. "Let me join him!"

There was a loud whistle as the safety valve activated. Alarms were going off. An explosion was imminent.

"Harley! Harley! Think of the baby!" Batman yelled. Harley grabbed him with her free hand, allowing him to pull her up. They needed to get out of there before that tank blew. As the building rumbled around them, Batman fired a grapple shot up to an open window. They flew up and out of the building as it began to fall apart.

Batman landed on the roof of a nearby building. He watched helplessly as the building fell apart. Quinn sobbed in his arms. While he remained stoic on the exterior, a strange emotion overcame him.

Grief.

The Joker had been a part of his life for so long that he had almost become an old friend…at least he could rely on him to cause trouble…and now it looked like he was never coming back…

Every decision Joker had ever made always ended in misery. People died at his hands. Batman stopped him, but he would get out and do it again.

_Think of it as a running gag!_ Batman could hear Joker's voice in his head.

You want to know something really funny? Batman silently asked the Joker's voice.

Even after all he had done, he still would've saved him.

_Now that is pretty funny!_ Joker's voice laughed, the sound echoing in Batman's ears.

Exhausted and wrought with emotion, Quinn had collapsed in a stupor in his arms. She needed rest. Batman grappled down to the ground. Gordon was waiting for him. He looked at Batman as the Dark Knight rested Quinn in his waiting arms. "Batman…what happened in there?" He asked, concerned.

Saying nothing, wanting to be alone with his thoughts, Batman began walking away, ignoring Gordon's repeated questions.

* * *

**A/N:** We're not done yet, folks! We've got an epilogue to go! I know the Clayface fight was a bit anticlimactic. But I'll be honest, my brother and I finished that part of the game in one go, he was almost too easy. And I wasn't too happy with Clayface being in the game to begin with. I know the Joker was dying and didn't have the strength to fight back, but I thought that was cheating. And I wanted Marjorie to beat Strange to a pulp (as much as you guys did), but again, she delivered a baby a few minutes later so she probably wouldn't have been able to.

Oh and in the next chapter, we are going to learn just how Oracle was able to get into Protocol Ten and stop it. Virtual fresh baked chocolate chip cookies to the first person who can correctly guess who helps her!

The usual; at least 10 reviews. At least one thing you liked and at least something for the sequel. So that would be 93.


	10. Epilogue: Hush Little Baby

**A/N: **Before we get into the epilogue, I want to share many thanks with everyone for reading and being patient with me while I worked on this story. You guys made this story possible.

On to the final chapter!

* * *

Epilogue: Hush Little Baby

"It looks like we were wrong about your due date." Leslie said as she put the freshly washed and swaddled Sammie into my arms. The baby cooed and pumped her fists free. "Samantha is at or near full term. Six pounds even, nineteen and three-quarter inches. Both of you are every inch in perfect health."

"As I knew she would be." I twirled a lock of her fine downy hair around my pinkie finger. "I just hope the paparazzi haven't discovered where we are."

After a loud debacle during the ambulance ride, Leslie had finally convinced me to go to Gotham General and at least make sure Sammie was ok, given the circumstances of her birth. While I knew Leslie wouldn't let anything happen to my little girl, I was still nervous as she took her away to get examined and cleaned up. After all, a maniac nearly took her away from me. I never wanted to let my baby girl out of my sight again.

"I actually think that the best place for both of you to be right now is Wayne Manor." Leslie said, almost begrudgingly. I knew she was just as stubborn as Bruce and me and never liked it when others proved her wrong. She unfolded an extra blanket and draped it over my shoulders. "I'm going to call Alfred. Just sit tight and I'll be right back."

Leslie left, leaving me almost all alone in the waiting room with the baby. After all the chaos that had resulted in the aftermath of Protocol Ten, things had settled down for the most part.

That was until I heard Harley singing softly next to me. "Hush little baby, don't say a word. Mama's going to kill for you the whole damn world."

What the…I turned to look at the source of the singing. Harley was sitting next to me, dressed like a biker, the tips of her pigtails dyed black and red. She was rubbing her belly and singing softly. "Harley?" I asked. The once bubbly woman now looked weighed down, crushed almost. I felt sorry for her.

She looked up, her face was red. "Mr. J is…" she broke down sobbing, unable to finish her sentence. "Oh God!"

Oh no…my pity turned into compassion. While he was a sociopath and abusive towards her, I know she loved him deeply. "Harley? I'm so sorry about what happened to Mr. J. Do you…want a hug?" I asked. She looked at me, a mixture of fear and surprise in her face. Given our previous interactions weren't exactly pleasant, I don't blame her for being a little scared. "No, I'm being serious. Would you like a hug? I promise I won't hurt you."

"Sure." Harley said. Since I was holding Sammie and that made a traditional embrace somewhat awkward, I moved Sammie to one arm and wrapped the other around Harley's shoulders, pulling her close. She began crying into my shoulder. "Mr. J…Mr. J…"

"It's ok to miss him, Harley. I know you love him so much." I gently patted her shoulder. We sat there until Sammie began fussing. "Whoop, sorry about that. You don't mind if I see what's wrong with her?"

"Go ahead."

"Thanks." I told Harley as we parted. "You're probably hungry, little one." Using the blanket for privacy, I lowered a corner of the dress blouse so she could feed.

"What's her name?" Harley asked after a minute.

"Samantha." I said as Sammie finished feeding and was looking around, contently full.

I thought I saw Harley smile. "That's a pretty name. Mr. J and I didn't get a chance to discuss names for our little one…I only found out two days ago…his last words to me was to make our little one smile for him and that he hoped the baby would have my smile…" her lip quivered and she bowed her head.

Now I felt _really_ bad for her. I wondered how I would get along if something happened to Bruce…but I had not only Alfred, Babs, Leslie, Tim and Dick but my buddies from Precinct 13 and Arkham Asylum. I knew I could count on them to support me. Other than Poison Ivy, Harley only had Joker and he was now gone.

"Harley…I don't know if it makes you feel better or not. I'm sorry if it doesn't. But I want you to know something. And that is I know you'll make a wonderful Mama. And Mr. J would be proud of you."

Harley looked at me, her emotions guarded. "Thanks." She stroked Sammie's hair, humming _Hush-A-Bye Baby_ under her breath.

"Anytime."

"Marjorie? Alfred's here." Leslie came back into the waiting room; she had a wheelchair ready and waiting.

"Thanks." I turned to Harley. "Call Ivy and ask her if you can stay with her. The last thing you need right now is to be alone."

Harley nodded. "I will and congrats, Marjorie."

I smiled as I got into the wheelchair and was pushed outside where Alfred was waiting with the Rolls.

* * *

Batman knelt over the stones of Crime Alley. While the sun had officially risen, it was still dark and cold. Off in the distance, he could see storm clouds coming. Gotham was effectively under a blizzard warning. He knew he had to leave and get home before it started snowing and blowing. But he wanted to be alone with his thoughts. The events of that night had taken a toll on his psyche.

The scene had been cleared up; even the chalk outlines were gone. Strange's body was nowhere in sight. Good. The last thing he needed was another reminder of how he nearly lost everything again. How he had lost something today. Something he never thought he'd miss.

How many he had lost. Dad. Mom. Jason. Sam. Joker…

"Batman?" Oracle's voice came over his earpiece. "Marjorie just called me. She, Leslie and Alfred are leaving Gotham General and are now going back to Wayne Manor. The baby is with them, checked out just fine."

"Thanks, Oracle." Oracle's interruption reminded him of something. Something that had been bothering him. "Oracle…just how did you manage to bypass Strange's firewalls and traps to shut down Protocol Ten? I know his system was tougher to break into than Fort Knox."

"That's the weird thing." Oracle said. "I had been trying for a long time. But Strange had firewalls and false leads everywhere. I couldn't stop it and was about to give up hope when I felt…a presence. You're going to think this is completely crazy but it felt like Sam was standing behind me. I felt this warm and gentle pressure on my shoulders. And suddenly…everything became sharper, clearer. I could see corners I had missed, steps I could take. It was like Sam was guiding me to the right places. When I managed to shut the program down, I heard Sam's voice in my ear, clear as day, telling me 'two heads are always better than one.' It was so weird."

Batman was about to say something when he felt a familiar presence…one he hadn't felt in nearly five years… "Go to bed, Barbara. Get some rest."

"You too."

Batman looked behind him. Standing there was a tall man wrapped in a blue cloak over a formal suit. A golden medallion hung from his neck. His eyes were hidden by the brim of his fedora, but he recognized Marjorie's nose, auburn hair and jaw shape. "Hello Bruce." The man smiled.

"Sam, you're the Phantom Stranger?" Batman had worked with the mysterious figure before Sam's death and a couple of times afterwards. But this was the first time he had recognized him as Sam. Then again, the Phantom Stranger was capable of many things…

"I was chosen for the mantle when I died. For the last five years, I've been keeping an eye on you, Marjorie and Barbara"

It suddenly clicked for Batman. "You helped Oracle stop Protocol Ten."

"I only gave her the extra ability to see Strange's logic. You know I cannot get directly involved in affairs and only guide to solutions when the time is right."

"All these powers and limitations on them, must be maddening sometimes. Does Marjorie know who you are?" Batman asked.

"Yes. Speaking of which, go home to her and my niece. Sometimes, I fear you spend more time mourning the dead than celebrating with the living." He faded away.

For a few moments, Batman stood over the stones where his parents had died. Sam's words rung in his ears.

_Sometimes I fear you spend more time mourning the dead than celebrating with the living._

He thought back on the day when Marjorie told him she was pregnant. How he felt like somebody had pulled a rug from out beneath his feet. He remembered wondering how he could be a father and Batman. And just how…enthusiastic…he was about it. He wanted to be a dad…he could do it…

Now his daughter had been born. His little girl. His Sammie.

He had to get home before the oncoming blizzard hit.

* * *

"There we go." Tim said as he helped me put on the baby sling. Sammie was all bundled up inside of it, looking up at me with big brown eyes. "Hope she won't wake you up every two hours."

"Thanks Tim." I said as I sat down in the rocker. Once we had gotten home, I had taken a long shower and changed into a nice clean nightgown. Tim had offered to hold Sammie for me and I gratefully took it. I was tired, sore and wanted nothing more than to sleep. But at the same time, I was afraid to sleep. I was afraid something would happen to Sammie and I couldn't protect her. "So…how do you feel about being an on call babysitter?" I asked in a gently teasing voice.

"Pretty good. I've already gotten a child seat for my motorcycle and I've even got a mini biker jacket for her!" Tim laughed, rolling with my punches. "Oh and did I mention she's now an honorary member of my biker group? The guys can't wait to meet her!"

"You're not taking my baby anywhere _near_ a motorcycle…unless you want me using you for target practice." I smiled. "Tim, I was teasing about being an on call babysitter. You don't have to be if you don't want to."

"And I was teasing about the whole motorcycle thing. Well, except maybe the biker jacket and about the guys wanting to meet her…"

"Enough about motorcycles and target practice." Leslie stood in the doorway to the nursery. "Now get some sleep."

"I will as soon as Bruce gets home. He called and is on his way. You guys head off for bed. Sammie and I will be ok. Besides, I want to have some time with my little girl."

Leslie and Tim nodded and left quietly. I gently pushed my foot against the floor, rocking us back and forth, humming a half-forgotten tune. Sammie was looking around, as if waiting for someone. Then I felt something strange.

We weren't alone… I knew in my heart that Sam was with us. "Hi Sam." I felt tears coming to my eyes.

"Hello, Marjorie." The Phantom Stranger materialized. Sammie saw him and looked at him, fascinated with his medallion. "It's wonderful to see you again."

"I know. I've missed you so much." I said as he knelt before me.

"I've missed you too." There was so much I wanted to ask. So much I wanted to say. Yet I didn't need to. It's said twins have a unique connection. And Sam and I were no exception. True, I did need to overcome my doubts about his return at first. But some part of me knew that Sam had returned when I first saw him in Arkham Asylum almost two years ago. When I lay dying of TITAN poisoning…

He couldn't stay much longer. But still, I wanted to see him again…I raised my hands tentatively. Sensing my intention, Sam gently took them and rested my hands on his face. I couldn't take his hat off, but I could feel his face. Gently, I ran my fingers over every inch. The prominent cheekbones. The high forehead and wide eyes. The narrow nose and thin lips.

Every inch my brother.

"Take care, sis." The Phantom Stranger kissed me on the cheek. "You behave for your parents, little lady." He chuckled as he rubbed Sammie's downy black hair. She cooed, reaching for his medallion. "I'll be watching over you guys always." He slowly faded away. "I love you."

"I love you too." I whispered, smiling. For a brief while, I had Sam back.

* * *

Bruce carefully opened the bookcase next to the master bed, still wearing the tattered remains of his suit with the cowl hanging off and down his back. The last thing he wanted was to wake up Marjorie and Sammie. He didn't need to worry though, the bedroom was empty. A warm light glowed from the nursery. Through the open door, he saw Marjorie asleep in the rocker by the bassinet, her knees pulled up to her chest. She was wearing the baby sling. Bruce could just see Sammie's thick head of black hair. The baby was beginning to doze off.

"About time you got back. I think she was waiting for you to come home just until she could fall asleep." Marjorie mumbled sleepily. Bruce smiled as he gently picked up Marjorie and Sammie and carried them into the master bedroom, putting them down on the bed. "Just my luck she had to be a Daddy's Girl."

Bruce chuckled as he left to get the bassinet. He decided to put it in the master bedroom so he wouldn't have to go too far to tend to Sammie when she woke them up later. It wasn't too heavy. Carefully he unbuckled Sammie out of the baby sling and carried her to the bassinet. When he put her in, Sammie groggily woke up and looked up at Bruce with large brown eyes. He couldn't help but smile at her…how he would do anything for her and Marjorie…

"Oh no, I know that look." Marjorie tiredly laughed. Bruce looked at her. She was lying with one eye open, a tired smile on her face.

"What look?" Bruce innocently asked.

"I've got competition. She's got you wrapped around her little finger. Not even a day old and she's already got Bruce Wayne catering to her every whim." Marjorie teased.

"Well…it's not my fault she has your innocent doe eyes…" Sammie cooed as if agreeing with him. Bruce laughed as he kissed Sammie on the top of the head. The baby yawned and fell back asleep. "I'll be coming to bed, just going to take a quick shower." He kissed Marjorie, she smelled of her favorite citrus lotion.

Bruce went into the bathroom and hopped into the shower. The hot water felt good and soothing falling over his tired and achy body. Yet he wanted to hurry and get out.

Because he had the strange feeling that they weren't alone. He got dressed in his pajamas and robe, pocketing an extra Batarang.

In the bedroom, Marjorie still slept. Sammie was cooing with interest, her bassinet was rocking back and forth gently on its rockers. The rocker was a tall figure, hooded and cloaked in red. He looked like a Knight Templar out of the books Bruce used to read as a kid. Blades flanked his arms.

He was looking down at the baby with a gentle awe.

What was he doing here?!

* * *

The whirring sound of a Batarang flying over my head woke me up. I shot up, knowing the sound wasn't good. I saw the man standing by the bassinet, looking like a knight robed with red. He held the Batarang in his hand. How in the world did he catch it?!

No…! "Who are you?!" I ran towards the bassinet and grabbed Sammie. I wasn't going to let anybody hurt my baby. Not after what happened today. "What are you doing with my baby?!"

"You are blessed, Marjorie Wayne. Your daughter will grow up healthy, strong and gifted, a child that you and your husband will be very proud of." The stranger said.

"Who are you and what do you want with my family?" Bruce asked, wrapping his arm over my shoulder.

"We have been given many names, Batman. But you will come to know me as Azrael, loyal servant to the Order of St. Dumas." Azrael bowed.

He knows…but I didn't sense that he wanted to hurt us…he was here to deliver something.

"Just what I need, another secret society." Bruce kept his eyes cautiously on Azrael.

"I bring a message. Dark days are coming, Batman. The Prophecy is coming true. You are the warrior who will close the gates of Hell. You are the one who will save this day, and in doing so, events will occur that you cannot stop. From the ashes of Arkham, a fire will burn. Gotham will burn. And you…Batman…you will burn too."

"I don't believe in fairy tales." Bruce growled, keeping his arm protectively around me.

I noticed that Azrael's sword hooked to his left gauntlet was glowing. "Believe what you will. The message has been delivered. We will meet again."

* * *

Azrael threw his now glowing sword into the floor. A pillar of smoke rose. Sammie cried as smoke filled the room. Bruce let Marjorie go and pushed through it. He was gone…heaven knows where he was now…there wasn't even a mark on the floor where he had stabbed.

"What the hell was that about?" Marjorie asked before comforting Sammie.

"I don't know…" Bruce said, making a mental note to himself to investigate Azrael and the Order of St. Dumas as soon as possible. "…but let's not worry about that now." Bruce hugged Marjorie, breathing in the familiar smell of her citrus lotion. He kissed her.

But Azrael's words rung in his ears, he thought as he and Marjorie looked down at a now calmed down Sammie.

They will meet again.

* * *

**A/N:** Surprise! I bet you were thinking Azrael wouldn't be involved! But yes, he is and the Prophecy will be coming true in the sequel!

I owe virtual freshly baked chocolate chip cookies to Chicken and Stone Cold 22 for correctly guessing that the Phantom Stranger was the one who helped Oracle shut down Protocol Ten! And I owe tons more (from Never Leave Your Partner Behind) to Jedi Master Chris for guessing the identity of the Phantom Stranger as Sam Wilde!

The sequel to this will be set some 20 years after The Last Laugh. And yes, Sammie Wayne and the unborn child of Joker will be major players. Also, it will be the final installment in the Batman/Marjorie trilogy (sob)

At least ten more reviews, at least one thing you liked and something that needs fixing.


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